Good evening, everyone:)
Hope you are all having a good week!
Time is winding down (:::groan::: bad pun), but the action is heating up. Will Spike be able to get to Emma? Will he be able to fight off the Buffy look a like? What is Buffy thinking? All of these questions and more will be answered in the next few chapters.
Not to mention the happy, happy ending:)
I do hope you enjoy this book and start thinking about whether or not you would like me to continue this series. Only three chapters to go after this!
Let me know what you think!
*Cheery Vibes*, Nimue
"As sick as it sounds, in my little head, there's a little Sunnydale, and a widdle Buffy, and a widdle Spike, and Spike wubs Buffy." James Marsters 14 July 2002
Title: Blood and Metal (Time - Chapter Twenty-Three)
Author: Nimue
Rating: PG -13
Pairing Buffy/Spike. Most major characters included.
Feedback: Yes, please
For instant notification of fic releases, straight to your mailbox, please visit Always_Everyday@yahoogroups.com
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, UPN, Fox... Just Borrowing. (with, of course, the exception of Emma and William, who belong to Buffy and Spike)
Summary: Set immediately following You Always Hurt. Buffy decides what to do about the Draconius situation in order to save her family. Spike battles Riley and Buffy alone. Anya, Giles and Cyrus head to the safe house in order to help Spike. Willow and Dawn discover that Buffy has taken matters into her own hands.
Blood and Metal
Buffy crept down the hallway in her hospital gown, ducking under the counter where the nurses lay in wait. The pain in her belly was throbbing, but the panic swept it to the back of her mind. Draconius was back. Riley was back. Emma was captured. Spike was there. Spike can't win alone. He will die. Emma will die. William will be trapped.
There are no choices.
As she passed a storage room, she ducked inside, grabbing a pair of hospital scrubs several sizes too big and pulling them on, discarding the backless gown in a mop bucket. There was a roll of duct tape on a shelf. As good a thing as any, she thought, as she unrolled it and wrapped it over the bandages on her stomach. She winced as she bound the wound tight. Couldn't afford to let it open again now.
It didn't take long nor was it particularly difficult to escape the hospital. But getting there was a bit harder. No car. No driving. No way she could run and then do battle. She chuckled, a yellow cab sitting parked by the hospital doors. No money. Well, wouldn't be the first time she'd have to wing it. She'd just have to send something to the cab company when she got home.
"Ninth and Cedar... yesterday," she said as she climbed into the back seat.
*****
"She's not doing very well," Willow said to Giles as they stood against the wall in the waiting room.
"No," Giles responded. "But I don't see how she could be. No matter how many times one is traumatized, it doesn't make it any less... traumatic."
"Well said," Willow commented, trying to smile. "This isn't good. How ... I mean... Draconius is the real deal. And with just Spike and Riley fighting him...."
"Hopefully, they will not have to battle him for too long. If all goes well, Draconius will be without his mate when they move in and release Emma. Hopefully, we can distract him magically while Spike beheads him. But if the opportunity does not arise, then we will bide our time. Hide Emma until we can dispatch Draconius."
"Buffy won't like you moving her away," the redhead commented.
Giles removed his glasses, swiping them once against his untucked shirt. "No, I don't imagine she will. But she will also do whatever she must to protect her children."
Willow was silent for a moment, looking at her feet. "W..what can I do? I mean, my magicks are..."
"You need to stay with Buffy. Try to keep her grounded. Keep her with us. If she lets herself fade away... well, you've seen how that turns out."
"Not of the good," Willow responded, a worried look on her face.
"Not to mention that we've no idea what it will do to Spike's power. If Buffy shuts down, it could effect their connection. We have to keep her interested. Alive. Do you think that there is any way to convince the medical staff to let her stay with William?"
Willow looked at him a moment. "If.. if he's stable, maybe they'll bring the incubator up here. I mean... if physically he doesn't need any treatment at the moment. I... I'll see what I can do."
"Good," Giles responded, laying a hand on Willow's shoulder. "I've got to go. Anya and Cyrus and I are going to the address to see if we can help Spike and Riley. I'm not sure what we can do exactly, but I don't feel as if we can just leave them there alone."
"You'll figure it out," Willow smiled. "You always do."
Giles smiled softly back at her. "It was much easier when you three were all I had to worry about. At least you could hold your own."
Willow returned the smile. "There's power in numbers. The more of us you have to worry about, the more of us there are to fight the battles. Hey, if Buffy and Spike keep it up, there'll be a whole army of good guys."
Giles groaned, rolling his eyes. "Please don't wish that upon us. We've enough on our hands as it is."
*****
Spike flew into the back wall of the room as the full force of Riley's blow took him under the jaw. He vaguely felt his head smack onto the wood, but the anger pushed it aside. Buffy was on her knees now, crawling towards him like a jungle cat, a disconcerting, bloody grin on her face. Riley smiled, staring down at his handy work.
"Not so tough, little Vampire, are you?" He hissed, watching Spike push himself up the wall.
"Not nice to sucker punch a bloke, Mate," Spike retorted, looking down at the woman. Her head swung up, a wild-eyed look catching his gaze. "Buffy," he said to her. "If that is you, Pet, don't do this. I don't want to fight you."
She laughed, an arid, dusty laugh. "But it's so much *fun*."
Spike knew it was wrong. Knew somewhere it could not be her, but he couldn't get into her head either way. And the look she had given him when he hit her was just enough. Just enough to make him second-guess himself. Just enough to make him wonder if he would have to kill his love to save his daughter.
"S'not fun, Pet. Never was." He thought for a moment. "Alright, maybe it was fun back in the day. But never really wanted to kill you. Don't want to now."
"Going to have to," she snarled, kipping upright and standing mere feet in front of him. He barely saw her move it was so quick, but managed to catch her fist, just before it contacted his jaw. Riley surged forward as Spike took her arm and wrapped it behind her, sending a kick to the soldier's chest and knocking him back against the wall. Buffy twisted, sweeping her feet underneath of him and he had to hop, letting go of her, to keep his balance. A barrage of little fists came at his face. Spike blocked the blows, ducking under the last one and rolling across the floor to where the sword had been dropped.
Riley's foot planted on the hilt, leaning down to look at Spike. "Think I'm going to let you have that? Bad Vampire," he tsk'd, wagging a finger at Spike. Spike smiled, looking up at the man and bucking, kicking into the air and catching Riley's neck with the bottom of his boot. The soldier reeled back, stepping off the sword. Spike grabbed the hilt, hopping to his feet in the instant window he'd been given.
"Great," Spike muttered as he turned back towards the girl. She had armed herself while Spike had fought off Riley. Another, larger sword. And she was coming at him, full throttle with a grin on her face.
The sound of metal striking metal was musical in its own right. When done correctly, the whole action of sword fighting was like ballet. But when done correctly, one wasn't being forced to maim or murder a loved one. This was just a sick game.
He felt the blade knick his shoulder and her laughter as the blood began to roll. It was everything he could do to look at that face and defend himself, much less return the attack. It wasn't that she was any better. Just that it was *her*. Her face. Her little hands. Her pretty eyes and coral lips peeled back into a snarl. How could he bury the metal in her heart? Lop off her head? Take off a hand so she'd let go of the sword?
Fact is, he couldn't. Were it not for Emma, he wouldn't even be fighting. She could take him out. Would have to before he'd hurt her again.
"Well, this is no fun," Riley snarked, walking around the pair. "Least you could do is try."
"Not going to hurt her, Mate. Not less I have to," Spike muttered, parrying a flurry of blows.
"Looks like you might," Riley chimed back, grabbing a third sword from a trunk near the stairs.
"What is this, Medieval times?" Spike asked as Riley rushed at him, blade swung out in front of him.
"Want it to be at least a fair fight," Riley answered. "Don't want to give you a weapon you know nothing about."
Spike chuckled. "And this is bloody fair? You've got my girl, got a look alike for Buffy, or you did something to *my* Buffy and now it's two on one?"
"Could have just killed you outright," Buffy snarled. "Be a little grateful."
They circled each other like lions in a territorial dispute. "Let me ask you something, Spike," Riley said, a twisted smile on his wholesome face.
"W'as that?" The Vampire answered, moving round the other two.
"To whom do you think you owe your happy little existence? Buffy? Your rug rats?"
Spike quirked a brow, hands still wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
"Let me tell you," Riley responded. "Me. Do you think that Buffy would have ever given you the time of day if I hadn't left? Little helpless neutered *monster*? Right. You'd be dead... well, more dead... and I would be the one curled up in bed with her, letting her ride me like the night train and letting me give her normal babies. Normal. Like she has always wanted. Not like *you* Spike. You *freak*. She felt sorry for you. Just because she wasn't good enough for me, she ran to you. Poor pathetic, little..."
Spike shifted into game face, hearing him speak. Every insecurity he had ever had lain open to bear. A growl escaped his lips as he lunged forward at Riley, trying to shut him up. The sword caught the soldier's cheek and he laughed as the blood dropped down the side of his face. It was on.
Metal clinked again on metal in a flurry of blows. It was impossible to know which blade was which. Whose blood was who's. Just a tangle of silver and red and darkness and fury.
*****
"You know where we're going?" Cyrus asked, hopping into the back seat of Giles' rental. Anya climbed into the front.
"Yes," Giles answered, staring the car. "Just not quite sure of what we do when we get there."
Anya looked over at him. "It will be a whole lot easier if it's just Draconius. Without the Witch."
The Watcher's hand rested on her knee. "We need to prepare ourselves that it will be the both of them. Have you any suggestions."
"Driving there would be a good start," she snarked, as the car idled in the space. Giles sighed, backing slowly into the aisle.
"And now?" He returned. Cyrus rolled his eyes at them. Relationships. Sometimes he was glad he hadn't been mired in one.
"Well, if it's both of them, we'll have to try and subdue one and distract the other. Then someone grab the baby and hope we can tell either Riley or Spike how to kill Draconius. And you, " she continued, patting Giles' thigh. "Have to recite the incantation to send him to Hell."
"I'm still not sure that this is the best course of action," Giles warned.
"We could be creating more problems than we have."
Cyrus sighed. "Even if it's true, Rupert, what choice do we have? We have no manner in which to contain him and no place safe enough to place him were we to do so. In this situation, with Emma's life in the balance, we have only the one option."
"I suppose you're right," Giles conceded, pulling out onto the road. "I think it best if you locate Emma, Cyrus, and remove her from harm's way. Anya and I will do what we can magically to bind Draconius long enough for him to be beheaded."
"Fair enough," Cyrus responded. "Just be careful. I don't fancy telling these folks that you have both died again. It makes me look bad when you come popping back up."
Anya smiled, looking over at Giles. He shook his head and sped off towards Ninth Street.
*****
"Buffy?" Willow called as she walked into the dark room. "You alright?"
No one answered. Not that Willow had really expected it. She hadn't said a word since they'd taken her down to see William.
Willow flipped on the lights, walking into the room. "Buffy, if you're feeling up to it..."
She came into the main room and stopped dead. "Oh no,"
"Oh no, what?" Dawn asked, coming up behind Willow and nearly crashing into her back.
"She's gone," Willow gasped, stepping into the room and looking around.
Dawn followed her, scanning the empty room with frightened eyes. "Maybe she went down to see William?"
Willow shook her head, fear boiling under her skin. "Giles told her. About Draconius. Spike. Emma. "
"She went there," Dawn gasped. "Oh God. She's... she can't, Willow. I mean, she just had a baby like what? Less that twenty four hours ago?"
Willow nodded, looking around again. "You know her better than that."
"What can we do? What do we do?" Dawn gushed, racing around the room hoping that they had just missed her.
"We need to find Tara. We need to protect them."
To be contd.
Hope you are all having a good week!
Time is winding down (:::groan::: bad pun), but the action is heating up. Will Spike be able to get to Emma? Will he be able to fight off the Buffy look a like? What is Buffy thinking? All of these questions and more will be answered in the next few chapters.
Not to mention the happy, happy ending:)
I do hope you enjoy this book and start thinking about whether or not you would like me to continue this series. Only three chapters to go after this!
Let me know what you think!
*Cheery Vibes*, Nimue
"As sick as it sounds, in my little head, there's a little Sunnydale, and a widdle Buffy, and a widdle Spike, and Spike wubs Buffy." James Marsters 14 July 2002
Title: Blood and Metal (Time - Chapter Twenty-Three)
Author: Nimue
Rating: PG -13
Pairing Buffy/Spike. Most major characters included.
Feedback: Yes, please
For instant notification of fic releases, straight to your mailbox, please visit Always_Everyday@yahoogroups.com
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, UPN, Fox... Just Borrowing. (with, of course, the exception of Emma and William, who belong to Buffy and Spike)
Summary: Set immediately following You Always Hurt. Buffy decides what to do about the Draconius situation in order to save her family. Spike battles Riley and Buffy alone. Anya, Giles and Cyrus head to the safe house in order to help Spike. Willow and Dawn discover that Buffy has taken matters into her own hands.
Blood and Metal
Buffy crept down the hallway in her hospital gown, ducking under the counter where the nurses lay in wait. The pain in her belly was throbbing, but the panic swept it to the back of her mind. Draconius was back. Riley was back. Emma was captured. Spike was there. Spike can't win alone. He will die. Emma will die. William will be trapped.
There are no choices.
As she passed a storage room, she ducked inside, grabbing a pair of hospital scrubs several sizes too big and pulling them on, discarding the backless gown in a mop bucket. There was a roll of duct tape on a shelf. As good a thing as any, she thought, as she unrolled it and wrapped it over the bandages on her stomach. She winced as she bound the wound tight. Couldn't afford to let it open again now.
It didn't take long nor was it particularly difficult to escape the hospital. But getting there was a bit harder. No car. No driving. No way she could run and then do battle. She chuckled, a yellow cab sitting parked by the hospital doors. No money. Well, wouldn't be the first time she'd have to wing it. She'd just have to send something to the cab company when she got home.
"Ninth and Cedar... yesterday," she said as she climbed into the back seat.
*****
"She's not doing very well," Willow said to Giles as they stood against the wall in the waiting room.
"No," Giles responded. "But I don't see how she could be. No matter how many times one is traumatized, it doesn't make it any less... traumatic."
"Well said," Willow commented, trying to smile. "This isn't good. How ... I mean... Draconius is the real deal. And with just Spike and Riley fighting him...."
"Hopefully, they will not have to battle him for too long. If all goes well, Draconius will be without his mate when they move in and release Emma. Hopefully, we can distract him magically while Spike beheads him. But if the opportunity does not arise, then we will bide our time. Hide Emma until we can dispatch Draconius."
"Buffy won't like you moving her away," the redhead commented.
Giles removed his glasses, swiping them once against his untucked shirt. "No, I don't imagine she will. But she will also do whatever she must to protect her children."
Willow was silent for a moment, looking at her feet. "W..what can I do? I mean, my magicks are..."
"You need to stay with Buffy. Try to keep her grounded. Keep her with us. If she lets herself fade away... well, you've seen how that turns out."
"Not of the good," Willow responded, a worried look on her face.
"Not to mention that we've no idea what it will do to Spike's power. If Buffy shuts down, it could effect their connection. We have to keep her interested. Alive. Do you think that there is any way to convince the medical staff to let her stay with William?"
Willow looked at him a moment. "If.. if he's stable, maybe they'll bring the incubator up here. I mean... if physically he doesn't need any treatment at the moment. I... I'll see what I can do."
"Good," Giles responded, laying a hand on Willow's shoulder. "I've got to go. Anya and Cyrus and I are going to the address to see if we can help Spike and Riley. I'm not sure what we can do exactly, but I don't feel as if we can just leave them there alone."
"You'll figure it out," Willow smiled. "You always do."
Giles smiled softly back at her. "It was much easier when you three were all I had to worry about. At least you could hold your own."
Willow returned the smile. "There's power in numbers. The more of us you have to worry about, the more of us there are to fight the battles. Hey, if Buffy and Spike keep it up, there'll be a whole army of good guys."
Giles groaned, rolling his eyes. "Please don't wish that upon us. We've enough on our hands as it is."
*****
Spike flew into the back wall of the room as the full force of Riley's blow took him under the jaw. He vaguely felt his head smack onto the wood, but the anger pushed it aside. Buffy was on her knees now, crawling towards him like a jungle cat, a disconcerting, bloody grin on her face. Riley smiled, staring down at his handy work.
"Not so tough, little Vampire, are you?" He hissed, watching Spike push himself up the wall.
"Not nice to sucker punch a bloke, Mate," Spike retorted, looking down at the woman. Her head swung up, a wild-eyed look catching his gaze. "Buffy," he said to her. "If that is you, Pet, don't do this. I don't want to fight you."
She laughed, an arid, dusty laugh. "But it's so much *fun*."
Spike knew it was wrong. Knew somewhere it could not be her, but he couldn't get into her head either way. And the look she had given him when he hit her was just enough. Just enough to make him second-guess himself. Just enough to make him wonder if he would have to kill his love to save his daughter.
"S'not fun, Pet. Never was." He thought for a moment. "Alright, maybe it was fun back in the day. But never really wanted to kill you. Don't want to now."
"Going to have to," she snarled, kipping upright and standing mere feet in front of him. He barely saw her move it was so quick, but managed to catch her fist, just before it contacted his jaw. Riley surged forward as Spike took her arm and wrapped it behind her, sending a kick to the soldier's chest and knocking him back against the wall. Buffy twisted, sweeping her feet underneath of him and he had to hop, letting go of her, to keep his balance. A barrage of little fists came at his face. Spike blocked the blows, ducking under the last one and rolling across the floor to where the sword had been dropped.
Riley's foot planted on the hilt, leaning down to look at Spike. "Think I'm going to let you have that? Bad Vampire," he tsk'd, wagging a finger at Spike. Spike smiled, looking up at the man and bucking, kicking into the air and catching Riley's neck with the bottom of his boot. The soldier reeled back, stepping off the sword. Spike grabbed the hilt, hopping to his feet in the instant window he'd been given.
"Great," Spike muttered as he turned back towards the girl. She had armed herself while Spike had fought off Riley. Another, larger sword. And she was coming at him, full throttle with a grin on her face.
The sound of metal striking metal was musical in its own right. When done correctly, the whole action of sword fighting was like ballet. But when done correctly, one wasn't being forced to maim or murder a loved one. This was just a sick game.
He felt the blade knick his shoulder and her laughter as the blood began to roll. It was everything he could do to look at that face and defend himself, much less return the attack. It wasn't that she was any better. Just that it was *her*. Her face. Her little hands. Her pretty eyes and coral lips peeled back into a snarl. How could he bury the metal in her heart? Lop off her head? Take off a hand so she'd let go of the sword?
Fact is, he couldn't. Were it not for Emma, he wouldn't even be fighting. She could take him out. Would have to before he'd hurt her again.
"Well, this is no fun," Riley snarked, walking around the pair. "Least you could do is try."
"Not going to hurt her, Mate. Not less I have to," Spike muttered, parrying a flurry of blows.
"Looks like you might," Riley chimed back, grabbing a third sword from a trunk near the stairs.
"What is this, Medieval times?" Spike asked as Riley rushed at him, blade swung out in front of him.
"Want it to be at least a fair fight," Riley answered. "Don't want to give you a weapon you know nothing about."
Spike chuckled. "And this is bloody fair? You've got my girl, got a look alike for Buffy, or you did something to *my* Buffy and now it's two on one?"
"Could have just killed you outright," Buffy snarled. "Be a little grateful."
They circled each other like lions in a territorial dispute. "Let me ask you something, Spike," Riley said, a twisted smile on his wholesome face.
"W'as that?" The Vampire answered, moving round the other two.
"To whom do you think you owe your happy little existence? Buffy? Your rug rats?"
Spike quirked a brow, hands still wrapped around the hilt of his sword.
"Let me tell you," Riley responded. "Me. Do you think that Buffy would have ever given you the time of day if I hadn't left? Little helpless neutered *monster*? Right. You'd be dead... well, more dead... and I would be the one curled up in bed with her, letting her ride me like the night train and letting me give her normal babies. Normal. Like she has always wanted. Not like *you* Spike. You *freak*. She felt sorry for you. Just because she wasn't good enough for me, she ran to you. Poor pathetic, little..."
Spike shifted into game face, hearing him speak. Every insecurity he had ever had lain open to bear. A growl escaped his lips as he lunged forward at Riley, trying to shut him up. The sword caught the soldier's cheek and he laughed as the blood dropped down the side of his face. It was on.
Metal clinked again on metal in a flurry of blows. It was impossible to know which blade was which. Whose blood was who's. Just a tangle of silver and red and darkness and fury.
*****
"You know where we're going?" Cyrus asked, hopping into the back seat of Giles' rental. Anya climbed into the front.
"Yes," Giles answered, staring the car. "Just not quite sure of what we do when we get there."
Anya looked over at him. "It will be a whole lot easier if it's just Draconius. Without the Witch."
The Watcher's hand rested on her knee. "We need to prepare ourselves that it will be the both of them. Have you any suggestions."
"Driving there would be a good start," she snarked, as the car idled in the space. Giles sighed, backing slowly into the aisle.
"And now?" He returned. Cyrus rolled his eyes at them. Relationships. Sometimes he was glad he hadn't been mired in one.
"Well, if it's both of them, we'll have to try and subdue one and distract the other. Then someone grab the baby and hope we can tell either Riley or Spike how to kill Draconius. And you, " she continued, patting Giles' thigh. "Have to recite the incantation to send him to Hell."
"I'm still not sure that this is the best course of action," Giles warned.
"We could be creating more problems than we have."
Cyrus sighed. "Even if it's true, Rupert, what choice do we have? We have no manner in which to contain him and no place safe enough to place him were we to do so. In this situation, with Emma's life in the balance, we have only the one option."
"I suppose you're right," Giles conceded, pulling out onto the road. "I think it best if you locate Emma, Cyrus, and remove her from harm's way. Anya and I will do what we can magically to bind Draconius long enough for him to be beheaded."
"Fair enough," Cyrus responded. "Just be careful. I don't fancy telling these folks that you have both died again. It makes me look bad when you come popping back up."
Anya smiled, looking over at Giles. He shook his head and sped off towards Ninth Street.
*****
"Buffy?" Willow called as she walked into the dark room. "You alright?"
No one answered. Not that Willow had really expected it. She hadn't said a word since they'd taken her down to see William.
Willow flipped on the lights, walking into the room. "Buffy, if you're feeling up to it..."
She came into the main room and stopped dead. "Oh no,"
"Oh no, what?" Dawn asked, coming up behind Willow and nearly crashing into her back.
"She's gone," Willow gasped, stepping into the room and looking around.
Dawn followed her, scanning the empty room with frightened eyes. "Maybe she went down to see William?"
Willow shook her head, fear boiling under her skin. "Giles told her. About Draconius. Spike. Emma. "
"She went there," Dawn gasped. "Oh God. She's... she can't, Willow. I mean, she just had a baby like what? Less that twenty four hours ago?"
Willow nodded, looking around again. "You know her better than that."
"What can we do? What do we do?" Dawn gushed, racing around the room hoping that they had just missed her.
"We need to find Tara. We need to protect them."
To be contd.