Disclaimers: I don't own any character other than Lissa, she's aproduce of my over-active imagination.
Setting: End of Season 6, I haven't seen any of season 7 yet because it's not being released in the UK until January. Can't wait.
LISSA
by Rowan
CHAPTER 5 - HEALER
Buffy followed Xander down into the basement of the school. It was cold and the lighting was poor. A faint dripping sound could be heard. Buffy shivered, a faint prickling at the back of her neck, warning her something was down here, something dark.
As they walked along, a faint humming could be heard, then talking, laughing. They approached Spike, who was sat on a discarded school chair. He was humming and talking to himself. His eyes were dazed, but he was speaking to someone else in the room, apparently, someone they couldn't see.
"I know, I'm bad, I'm a bad, bad man. I kill, I maim, I rape. I remember, remember you all. I know," with that diatribe, he swiftly got up and stalked over to the wall directly opposite from where he was seated. "Bad Will," he punched the wall, hard, "bad Spike," again, "bad man, bad man, bad, bad, bad, bad....." He repeatedly punched the wall, using his fists to emphasise each word. Buffy and Xander wincing with every blow he was making, watching the blood pour from his knuckles and fingers.
"Spike?" Buffy said softly, then again louder, when it got no response, "SPIKE!"
"Bad Spike, hurt Buffy, no Buffy," he looked away from her, but she saw the tortured ruin of his chest before he turned.
"Xander, first aid kit," when Xander made no move, "now Xander." He hurried out of the basement.
Slowly Buffy approached the obviously-disturbed vampire, "Spike, it's me, Buffy. I want to help you, you're hurt," he indicated his hands.
"I'm not worthy, not worthy, go away, get out get out, get out..." his voice swiftly rose, Buffy turned and ran.
*******
She met Xander coming down the stairs, bring the asked-for first aid kit.
"Forget it, Xander, he won't even let me near him," then choking back a sob ran back to her office, slamming and locking the door behind her. Leaving her next appointment waiting outside, totally confounded and dismayed.
She picked up the phone and dialled, "Giles, its me," she listened on the other end for a while, "I'll ask him, but I need you to do me a favour....."
*******
School was over, a drugged up Spike was bundled up in a reflective blanket in the Watcher's car. All the windows were open, but still he managed to stink out Buffy and Xander, who had helped tranquilise him and manoevre him into the back seat.
"Buffy, I think that while he's out, that Xander and I should bathe him and wash his clothes.." Buffy nodded assent, which the Watcher saw in the rear view mirror. They reached Buffy's house. Willow met them at the open door, standing back while Giles and Xander half-carried the unconscious vampire who was now beginning to smoke alarmingly, up to the bathroom. Both the men stripped him and dumped him under the shower, turning it on full, whilst Xander and Giles laborously cleansed every inch of him. They then wrapped him in one of Joyce's old dressing-gowns and carried him back down into the sitting room. Willow, in preparation, had closed all the curtains, sealing the edges with tape to ensure no daylight got through. Lissa was already seated in the carpet, and looked expectantly up at them.
"Buffy," she looked at the figure sleeping peacefully on the sofa, "did you know he's a vampire?" At this point, the scoobies, Buffy included, started to giggle, which Lissa joined in with, then this escalated until they were all laughing, almost braying, the tension and relief flooding out of them, it took a while, but eventually it died down to an uncomfortable silence. "You want me to help a vampire?" Lissa was still trying to take this all in. Slowly, she stood up and walked over to the now fitfully sleeping vampire, and sitting next to him on the sofa, placed her hand on his brow and closed her eyes.
Again the Scoobies heard her whispered words, but they were short-lived. Spike morphed into his demonic features and opened yellow eyes, looking straight into Lissa's violet ones. He sat up, quickly backing away on the couch, averting his gaze from hers. Buffy made to move forward, but was stopped by Lissa's raised hand. Slowly Lissa stood up and faced him, then began speaking to him in her own native tongue, elvish. The vampire growled back, almost snarling at her. Still Lissa made no move, softly speaking to him. To the Scoobies obvious amazement, Spike got up off of the sofa and knelt before her, head bowed. Again, they heard Lissa speaking clearly in the musical language. Giles was fascinated, watching the two ancient beings converse, realising that both needed no translator, they understood each other perfectly. The conversation went on for almost thirty minutes, culminating in the elf and the vampire sitting on opposite ends of the sofa. Eventually, Spike seemed to relax completely, purring loudly when Lissa gently reached out and stroked the side of his face.
As she did this, his demonic visage faded and his face returned to human form. Puzzled, the Scoobies moved closer to see what would happen next.
"You helped me? A lower being?" It was barely a whisper, Spike's eyes were fixed on Lissa, who nodded, "thank you." Lissa merely smiled at him.
Gritting her teeth, she turned in her seat to face the others, "he will be better now, but there will be relapses until he can learn to cope with his soul."
"His soul!," Buffy was astounded by this, "Spike has a soul now." Lissa nodded, and then tried to stand up from the sofa, with a cry she flopped back down, moaning and holding her side. A faint sheen of sweat on her face. Spike scrambled forward and pushed her hand away from her side, carefully peeling back the t-shirt and dressing to examine the now re-opened wound in her side. Tendrils of black poison had now spread over her lower abdomen and up her left side to disappear under her bra.
"My turn to help, I think," he stated, looking back into her pain-filled eyes again, "I know this is killing you slowly, but it doesn't have to hurt so much!" He got up to the dining table, grabbing a pencil and paper, membling to himself "fresh would be better, wonder if the Watcher could go and look for some." He finished scribbling on the piece of paper and handed it to Willow. "I don't suppose for a minute you know a Hedge-Witch?" Willow, to the rest of the Scoobies' surprise, nodded dumbly. "Good, get her on the 'phone then and give her this list of stuff to get. Say it's urgent." Willow scanned the list,
"I know some of these herbs Spike, most of them grow around here, or in the woods north of town." She hurried out towards the front door, grabbing her suede jacket.
"I'll give you a ride," Xander stated, reaching for his jacket and keys, Willow smiled at him.
Buffy bounded upstairs to get the first aid kit, and quickly brought it down, handing it to Spike this time, instead of Giles. Nodding his thanks, he carefully applied a new dressing, adding some antiseptic ointment to the gauze. Lissa winced as he strapped it in place with some tape.
"You need to rest," he stated.
"You know elves don't really sleep, Spike," Lissa stated matter of factly, "but I will zone out a bit today, but don't think I'll miss a trick!"
"Do it then, please," he added as an afterthought, "my lady."
Buffy raised her eyebrows at this, before dragging Spike to the other side of the room.
"What's with the 'my lady' routine....and, a soul Spike?.... and she spoke to your demon.... he purred for her!" Spike put his finger to his lips and Buffy, sighing, allowed him to drag her upstairs, pulling her into the bathroom after checking there was no light coming through the blind. As gently as he could, he pushed her down on the toilet seat, perching opposite her on the edge of the bath.
"She's a high elf, pet, they are almost like, well gods, to demons like us. Plus, she's got a few years on me," he started slowly.
"What do you mean a few years, she looks about twenty five?" Buffy started, but Spike shushed her quickly.
"I would guess her to be about, well, older than, definitely older than Angel, maybe oven older than Darla," he began again, "she's been around a long time. Seems to know more about my kind than even I do, you saw for yourself. How many people, Watchers even, would know that my demon would understand her native tongue? I doubt even Giles understands her language. And the demon? Well, I can tell you that he saw her for what she was straight away," Buffy nodded at this, remembering him kneeling at her feet, Spike continued,"and she sort of, well glowed when she spoke to me. Like an inner light." Buffy was thinking 'better read Lord of the Rings, and quick.' Spike continued, "I remember Darla speaking about elves, and I honestly thought she had gone batty. She told me that not many had remained after the majority of them left for their own lands, their own dimension. Darla was actually scared to death of ever coming across one, said no vampire ever had any chance of coming out of it alive, er, undead." Buffy was trying to take this all in.
"So what are they, extinct, or soon to be. Lissa said she was the last," Buffy jumped at Spike's gasped "no!"
"That's what she said. That wound, Spike, she said it was fatal, that she was dying," Spike nodded at her words, but his eyes were filling with unshed tears, and he quickly looked away so she couldn't see.
"You have no idea of what she is, do you?" Spike stated, "better get in touch with your precious Angel then and find a bit more about them. He'll know, he said he actually met one once, before he got his soul back, came in looking terrified fron hunting one night. I laughed at him then." He left the rest unfinished, knowing that Buffy would fill in the gaps.
******
Next chapter should be up in a couple of weeks, keep sending me feedback, I love it!
Setting: End of Season 6, I haven't seen any of season 7 yet because it's not being released in the UK until January. Can't wait.
LISSA
by Rowan
CHAPTER 5 - HEALER
Buffy followed Xander down into the basement of the school. It was cold and the lighting was poor. A faint dripping sound could be heard. Buffy shivered, a faint prickling at the back of her neck, warning her something was down here, something dark.
As they walked along, a faint humming could be heard, then talking, laughing. They approached Spike, who was sat on a discarded school chair. He was humming and talking to himself. His eyes were dazed, but he was speaking to someone else in the room, apparently, someone they couldn't see.
"I know, I'm bad, I'm a bad, bad man. I kill, I maim, I rape. I remember, remember you all. I know," with that diatribe, he swiftly got up and stalked over to the wall directly opposite from where he was seated. "Bad Will," he punched the wall, hard, "bad Spike," again, "bad man, bad man, bad, bad, bad, bad....." He repeatedly punched the wall, using his fists to emphasise each word. Buffy and Xander wincing with every blow he was making, watching the blood pour from his knuckles and fingers.
"Spike?" Buffy said softly, then again louder, when it got no response, "SPIKE!"
"Bad Spike, hurt Buffy, no Buffy," he looked away from her, but she saw the tortured ruin of his chest before he turned.
"Xander, first aid kit," when Xander made no move, "now Xander." He hurried out of the basement.
Slowly Buffy approached the obviously-disturbed vampire, "Spike, it's me, Buffy. I want to help you, you're hurt," he indicated his hands.
"I'm not worthy, not worthy, go away, get out get out, get out..." his voice swiftly rose, Buffy turned and ran.
*******
She met Xander coming down the stairs, bring the asked-for first aid kit.
"Forget it, Xander, he won't even let me near him," then choking back a sob ran back to her office, slamming and locking the door behind her. Leaving her next appointment waiting outside, totally confounded and dismayed.
She picked up the phone and dialled, "Giles, its me," she listened on the other end for a while, "I'll ask him, but I need you to do me a favour....."
*******
School was over, a drugged up Spike was bundled up in a reflective blanket in the Watcher's car. All the windows were open, but still he managed to stink out Buffy and Xander, who had helped tranquilise him and manoevre him into the back seat.
"Buffy, I think that while he's out, that Xander and I should bathe him and wash his clothes.." Buffy nodded assent, which the Watcher saw in the rear view mirror. They reached Buffy's house. Willow met them at the open door, standing back while Giles and Xander half-carried the unconscious vampire who was now beginning to smoke alarmingly, up to the bathroom. Both the men stripped him and dumped him under the shower, turning it on full, whilst Xander and Giles laborously cleansed every inch of him. They then wrapped him in one of Joyce's old dressing-gowns and carried him back down into the sitting room. Willow, in preparation, had closed all the curtains, sealing the edges with tape to ensure no daylight got through. Lissa was already seated in the carpet, and looked expectantly up at them.
"Buffy," she looked at the figure sleeping peacefully on the sofa, "did you know he's a vampire?" At this point, the scoobies, Buffy included, started to giggle, which Lissa joined in with, then this escalated until they were all laughing, almost braying, the tension and relief flooding out of them, it took a while, but eventually it died down to an uncomfortable silence. "You want me to help a vampire?" Lissa was still trying to take this all in. Slowly, she stood up and walked over to the now fitfully sleeping vampire, and sitting next to him on the sofa, placed her hand on his brow and closed her eyes.
Again the Scoobies heard her whispered words, but they were short-lived. Spike morphed into his demonic features and opened yellow eyes, looking straight into Lissa's violet ones. He sat up, quickly backing away on the couch, averting his gaze from hers. Buffy made to move forward, but was stopped by Lissa's raised hand. Slowly Lissa stood up and faced him, then began speaking to him in her own native tongue, elvish. The vampire growled back, almost snarling at her. Still Lissa made no move, softly speaking to him. To the Scoobies obvious amazement, Spike got up off of the sofa and knelt before her, head bowed. Again, they heard Lissa speaking clearly in the musical language. Giles was fascinated, watching the two ancient beings converse, realising that both needed no translator, they understood each other perfectly. The conversation went on for almost thirty minutes, culminating in the elf and the vampire sitting on opposite ends of the sofa. Eventually, Spike seemed to relax completely, purring loudly when Lissa gently reached out and stroked the side of his face.
As she did this, his demonic visage faded and his face returned to human form. Puzzled, the Scoobies moved closer to see what would happen next.
"You helped me? A lower being?" It was barely a whisper, Spike's eyes were fixed on Lissa, who nodded, "thank you." Lissa merely smiled at him.
Gritting her teeth, she turned in her seat to face the others, "he will be better now, but there will be relapses until he can learn to cope with his soul."
"His soul!," Buffy was astounded by this, "Spike has a soul now." Lissa nodded, and then tried to stand up from the sofa, with a cry she flopped back down, moaning and holding her side. A faint sheen of sweat on her face. Spike scrambled forward and pushed her hand away from her side, carefully peeling back the t-shirt and dressing to examine the now re-opened wound in her side. Tendrils of black poison had now spread over her lower abdomen and up her left side to disappear under her bra.
"My turn to help, I think," he stated, looking back into her pain-filled eyes again, "I know this is killing you slowly, but it doesn't have to hurt so much!" He got up to the dining table, grabbing a pencil and paper, membling to himself "fresh would be better, wonder if the Watcher could go and look for some." He finished scribbling on the piece of paper and handed it to Willow. "I don't suppose for a minute you know a Hedge-Witch?" Willow, to the rest of the Scoobies' surprise, nodded dumbly. "Good, get her on the 'phone then and give her this list of stuff to get. Say it's urgent." Willow scanned the list,
"I know some of these herbs Spike, most of them grow around here, or in the woods north of town." She hurried out towards the front door, grabbing her suede jacket.
"I'll give you a ride," Xander stated, reaching for his jacket and keys, Willow smiled at him.
Buffy bounded upstairs to get the first aid kit, and quickly brought it down, handing it to Spike this time, instead of Giles. Nodding his thanks, he carefully applied a new dressing, adding some antiseptic ointment to the gauze. Lissa winced as he strapped it in place with some tape.
"You need to rest," he stated.
"You know elves don't really sleep, Spike," Lissa stated matter of factly, "but I will zone out a bit today, but don't think I'll miss a trick!"
"Do it then, please," he added as an afterthought, "my lady."
Buffy raised her eyebrows at this, before dragging Spike to the other side of the room.
"What's with the 'my lady' routine....and, a soul Spike?.... and she spoke to your demon.... he purred for her!" Spike put his finger to his lips and Buffy, sighing, allowed him to drag her upstairs, pulling her into the bathroom after checking there was no light coming through the blind. As gently as he could, he pushed her down on the toilet seat, perching opposite her on the edge of the bath.
"She's a high elf, pet, they are almost like, well gods, to demons like us. Plus, she's got a few years on me," he started slowly.
"What do you mean a few years, she looks about twenty five?" Buffy started, but Spike shushed her quickly.
"I would guess her to be about, well, older than, definitely older than Angel, maybe oven older than Darla," he began again, "she's been around a long time. Seems to know more about my kind than even I do, you saw for yourself. How many people, Watchers even, would know that my demon would understand her native tongue? I doubt even Giles understands her language. And the demon? Well, I can tell you that he saw her for what she was straight away," Buffy nodded at this, remembering him kneeling at her feet, Spike continued,"and she sort of, well glowed when she spoke to me. Like an inner light." Buffy was thinking 'better read Lord of the Rings, and quick.' Spike continued, "I remember Darla speaking about elves, and I honestly thought she had gone batty. She told me that not many had remained after the majority of them left for their own lands, their own dimension. Darla was actually scared to death of ever coming across one, said no vampire ever had any chance of coming out of it alive, er, undead." Buffy was trying to take this all in.
"So what are they, extinct, or soon to be. Lissa said she was the last," Buffy jumped at Spike's gasped "no!"
"That's what she said. That wound, Spike, she said it was fatal, that she was dying," Spike nodded at her words, but his eyes were filling with unshed tears, and he quickly looked away so she couldn't see.
"You have no idea of what she is, do you?" Spike stated, "better get in touch with your precious Angel then and find a bit more about them. He'll know, he said he actually met one once, before he got his soul back, came in looking terrified fron hunting one night. I laughed at him then." He left the rest unfinished, knowing that Buffy would fill in the gaps.
******
Next chapter should be up in a couple of weeks, keep sending me feedback, I love it!