*Author's Note*: Another chapter out and done with . . . Lots of time to do
these too . . . This is what happens when you don't care about school.
Though I am moving to London this summer so that takes up a lot of my time.
Oh well.
Read and Review ^-^
Chapter 5: The same plan . . . Sort of.
It was no real surprise to Amara when Angel turned bad, and for a while she successfully managed to avoid the questions from everyone else whether or not she knew it was going to happen. Whenever someone tried she changed the subject or something more important came up. One afternoon though, in the school library her luck ran out and Buffy, looking worse for wear, cornered her.
"So tell me Amara . . . You knew Angel would become Angelus. . . Didn't you?" There was no hostility in Buffy's face, just a kind of despair. The sort of despair one would get when you finally get your hands on what you always wanted, only to see it slip away, and all because of one moment of pure happiness.
Looking at everyone else's faces, Amara knew she had to be careful. It wasn't just Buffy who had been hurt during all this, even though perhaps yes she was taking it the most personally. Yet Giles as well had lost, when Angelus killed Ms. Calendar. Everyone had suffered some pain, even Spike somewhere was experiencing some since his precious Drusilla was more drawn to her sire then Spike. Amara wasn't as concerned about him though, not at this moment time.
"Buffy. . . " She was interrupted by Buffy standing up suddenly, yelling over her.
"No. . . I'm SICK of you making excuses. All I want is the truth from you." Sitting down again, Buffy looked even more defeated. "Just the truth. . . "
It was time for a little bit of truth in all of this, and deciding her friends had had more then enough pain, since they were due for more in the future, Amara decided to end it all and finish it. "Buffy . . . I did know. All of this was involved in my dream."
Everyone looked a little taken aback for a moment; in no doubt they were all wondering why this hadn't all been stopped. Amara had been their friend, and now all of a sudden it was like finding out she had been a viper amongst them.
"I know you all . . . hate me, distrust me . . . whatever. But before you make that decision, I couldn't change the future could I? Then everything else would have been wrong, I couldn't have helped at all." Pinning Buffy with a look, desperate to make them all understand, Amara spoke directly to her. "Buffy I KNOW you love Angel . . . And I know he loves you more then anything. Nothing really can change that." Her mind though couldn't help wondering about Riley in the future, but that was something to worry about later.
"How does that help her at all now . . . ?" Xander growled from the sidelines. Looking at him, Amara could see he didn't understand why she had kept this secret. She didn't really blame him though since in his position she would wonder the same. He was protecting his friends, a trait of Xander that made him all-important in the future.
Looking into her lap, Amara didn't really know what else to say. Xander was right; knowing about Angel's love really didn't help Buffy at the moment. Not when she had to choose whether or not to kill him or not. She had probably caused more problems for her then before.
"It does help Xander . . . "Amara was surprised to see Buffy smiling, albeit a little shakily at Amara, no hatred in her face at all. "Telling me wouldn't have changed it Xander. When it comes down to it I don't think I would want to take back that one night with Angel for anything, and him loving me makes me feel better."
Willow got up and walked over to Buffy and wrapped her into a tight hug, while Buffy cried softly. Feeling uncomfortable, Amara didn't really know what to do now. She still felt just as bad. She glanced over at Giles who was staying quiet throughout all of this. Not surprising really, her secret had cost the life of Jenny.
"I don't like knowing what is going to happen, since it's so much pressure on me. SO many things will happen, and I want to tell you all there is, stop it from happening. But . . . Some good stuff happens as well, and then none of that would happen." Shaking her head, she held back the tears and the looks from everyone were making her uncomfortable. "Angel was one of my best friends and I knew what would happen to him . . . He's like an older brother to me. I loved him and I didn't tell him even when I knew this would hurt him more then any of us." She pierced Giles with a look as he started to deny that. He had fallen for Ms. Calendar and her death had hurt him too much. "It is true, but he and I had a talk about this and he made a good point. For all I know fate may NEED this to happen, so if I had told you, it might have found some different way for it all to happen." Smiling wryly she shrugged. "Being in love and not touching . . . It might have happened at anytime for Buffy and Angel. But this will end . . . somewhat well."
The shred of hope proved to be what everyone needed, they needed to know everyone would live through this. In fact Amara didn't know whether or not she could actually let any of her friends die, but luckily none of them had that coming, not as far as her dream foretold, but she knew that many times they would all wish they were dead.
A long time before, Amara had already decided that she was going to bring this all to an end, so to that purpose she had arranged to meet Spike with a plan that would please him and everyone else. Amara was fully aware that this wasn't the way it played out in her dream, but the end result would be the same, and at least this way it would save Giles even more pain.
In Ms. Calendar's notes had been the spell to give Angelus back his soul, and Willow and Giles were working on finding out as much about it as they could, trying to see if it would work or not, but they would need some distraction to keep Angelus busy, since as far as her dream was considered he was working on destroying Sunnydale completely. Amara's problem in all this was the outcome for Angel and Buffy, according to her dream. Angel would go through a lot of pain if it went, as it should. There was nothing she could do about it though, didn't stop her from feeling bad though. Amara almost had told Giles and Willow to ignore the soul restoration spell, knowing full well that it wouldn't work in time. But they needed to THINK that it might work.
At 1 in the morning, Spike knocked on her door, uncommon for a vampire to say the least. She had half expected to turn a corner and find him sitting on her bed, but then again that thought had lead to unbidden dreams that involved him unclothed on the bed. Those thoughts had been properly banished to the back of her head. She went and opened the door, ignoring the fact that she was wearing her pair of old blue pajamas, her hair in pigtails. She also ignored the urge to make sure her hair was straight enough, or if her clothes were good enough. Spike was not someone she needed to become infatuated with. He was destined for other people, namely Buffy. Though of course both of them at this point in time would emphatically deny that point.
Spike was of course dressed as was his usual, in his black leather duster, black jeans . . . black shirt. One really had to wonder if he was simply colour blind or whether he thought the black promoted his Big Bad image. He rose an eyebrow at Amara's choice of clothing, more likely at the fact that she didn't have any stakes hidden anywhere he could see, and as far as he was concerned that was foolery on her behalf, since every time she saw him he threatened to kill her. He had as of yet, not fulfilled his part of that statement, and since she had yet to die she didn't really feel he was heartfelt in threatening her.
"What in the bloody hell do you WANT??" Spike muttered, stalking into her apartment and into the kitchen, sitting down without even a by your leave. But then he was a vampire, and his manners had in all likelihood been left back in the 19th century. "What's this amazing plan you have that you seem to think I'm going to actually follow through with?"
Following after him and sitting down she pushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. She no longer bothered to offer him anything to drink, not after that first visit. She knew he disliked pig's blood. In actuality she didn't have any blood at the moment. With Angel . . . preoccupied being evil, she didn't have many more vampire visitors.
Deciding against beating around the bush with this particular idea, Amara decided to just come right out and say it. "Take me to Angelus. Make him think he has you on his side. While I've got him preoccupied, Willow and Giles are going to be working on getting him his soul back."
There was no real doubt that Spike didn't see the advantage to himself in this particular plan, since he was glaring at Amara quite coldly. "I see no need for you to involve me. It's no secret I'm not . . . fond of Angelus, but why would I give you to him so HE can kill you instead of me?"
"Drusilla spends more time with him now then you, correct?" Taking from his silence that she was correct, Amara continued on. "She was always, enraptured, with her sire. With him around AND evil you don't really stand much of a chance with her. HELP us get his soul back and he'll be out of the way." Twitching slightly at the idea of giving Spike back to Drusilla, Amara swallowed and kept going. "Then you can take Drusilla off somewhere and go back to being THE Big Bad to her . . . "
Now this part of the plan seemed to interest Spike. There really was no doubt that he disliked Angelus, or Peaches as he had a tendency to call him. That he loved Drusilla was also something that wasn't in doubt. So this plan was all around a winner for Spike, as long as he could just walk away without killing anyway. None of this plan was really all that different in her dream either. Amara distinctly remembered Spike helping out, just so he could have all of Drusilla's attention again.
"So you'll help?" Amara leaned forward, smiling slightly at Spike. As was usual Spike narrowed his eyes at her lack of fear even when she was sitting two feet away from him, wearing pajamas and with no real weapon on hand. He hated to be seen as a weakling. Though she had tried to tell him on more then one occasion that though she wasn't afraid of him didn't mean she didn't FEAR him. Just not for her . . . She had no idea why either. Maybe because she knew he had his good points, even if they were buried deep. Of course it was this exact thinking that managed to continue her childish infatuation. She would have been better off having a crush on Angel.
"Let me clear this up a bit. You want me to take you to Angelus. In the hopes that will distract him? For what?"
"Buffy will be there as well . . . She wants to try and get through to him." Well that was her hope. In actuality she just needed to be the one to kill him if that was necessary.
"Okay . . . So that might help. And somewhere else there will be Red and the Watcher doing some bloody spell to give the poof back his bleedin' soul?" At her nod, he went on. "And I get out my Drusilla while the bi . . . " He cut off at her glare. "While the Slayer has at it with Angelus. What about you . . . ?"
Blinking unexpectedly at him, Amara didn't know the point of the question. "What do you mean? I'll be fine . . . As long as you and Angelus don't kill me" She grinned meaning that to be a joke, but it seemed Spike took it in all seriousness.
" I know you and Peaches used to be all friendly like. This is a different bloke though. He WILL kill you at first chance unless you have a reason for him not to."
"Spike I didn't know you cared." Amara rose an eyebrow, grinning. Spike rolled his eyes slouching lower into his chair.
"I'd rather end your annoying life myself."
"Quite Quite." Spike's attitude was actually quite amusing to Amara herself, since she knew he didn't really care about any human living. In all likelihood he probably did just want to kill her himself. "Actually though I do think I know a reason. Just remind him I know the future. Angel knew that himself, so Angelus would as well. I'll be obliging enough so he doesn't kill me before he has to. So you going to help or not Spike? Angel would never . . . I mean Angelus would never think I went to him willingly. I need you to "kidnap" me."
Nodding Spike stood up, running a hand through his spiked blonde hair. "I suppose I might as well. Drusilla's doting too much on that old fool. If she's away from him she'll be back to dwelling on MY fortune." Narrowing his eyes at her he made a change to her plans. "I will do it without you knowing though. If this gets too planned then Angelus might sniff it out. He's a little cautious in his old age."
"But . . . How will I tell Buffy then and the rest of them?" Spike was already grinning at what he saw as the best part of his genius.
"Simple. Angelus would WANT Buffy to witness her friend's torture. I'll just call her and make some stupid threat and tell her to come. She'll know it's a trap of course, but I think Angelus would get a kick out of it. I'm sure before she runs off she'd tell the other Scoobies don't you?"
There wasn't any real fault in his logic. Angelus so far had shown a callous disregard for people's feelings, not at all surprising since he was well . . . evil. The idea of Buffy seeing a friend tortured would please him to no end.
"I suppose the hair dye hasn't fried ALL of your brains then William." Clearing her throat when Spike took offense at her statement she stood up as well. " I think it will work. Good night Spike." She left him to let himself out and sat at her kitchen table for the rest of the night, puzzling out the kinks in the plan, worrying about it not working out, until she heard the birds chirping and realized that it was morning already, and time to go to school. It seemed almost wrong to go to school and try and act as if everything was normal when it so obviously was not.
Chapter 5: The same plan . . . Sort of.
It was no real surprise to Amara when Angel turned bad, and for a while she successfully managed to avoid the questions from everyone else whether or not she knew it was going to happen. Whenever someone tried she changed the subject or something more important came up. One afternoon though, in the school library her luck ran out and Buffy, looking worse for wear, cornered her.
"So tell me Amara . . . You knew Angel would become Angelus. . . Didn't you?" There was no hostility in Buffy's face, just a kind of despair. The sort of despair one would get when you finally get your hands on what you always wanted, only to see it slip away, and all because of one moment of pure happiness.
Looking at everyone else's faces, Amara knew she had to be careful. It wasn't just Buffy who had been hurt during all this, even though perhaps yes she was taking it the most personally. Yet Giles as well had lost, when Angelus killed Ms. Calendar. Everyone had suffered some pain, even Spike somewhere was experiencing some since his precious Drusilla was more drawn to her sire then Spike. Amara wasn't as concerned about him though, not at this moment time.
"Buffy. . . " She was interrupted by Buffy standing up suddenly, yelling over her.
"No. . . I'm SICK of you making excuses. All I want is the truth from you." Sitting down again, Buffy looked even more defeated. "Just the truth. . . "
It was time for a little bit of truth in all of this, and deciding her friends had had more then enough pain, since they were due for more in the future, Amara decided to end it all and finish it. "Buffy . . . I did know. All of this was involved in my dream."
Everyone looked a little taken aback for a moment; in no doubt they were all wondering why this hadn't all been stopped. Amara had been their friend, and now all of a sudden it was like finding out she had been a viper amongst them.
"I know you all . . . hate me, distrust me . . . whatever. But before you make that decision, I couldn't change the future could I? Then everything else would have been wrong, I couldn't have helped at all." Pinning Buffy with a look, desperate to make them all understand, Amara spoke directly to her. "Buffy I KNOW you love Angel . . . And I know he loves you more then anything. Nothing really can change that." Her mind though couldn't help wondering about Riley in the future, but that was something to worry about later.
"How does that help her at all now . . . ?" Xander growled from the sidelines. Looking at him, Amara could see he didn't understand why she had kept this secret. She didn't really blame him though since in his position she would wonder the same. He was protecting his friends, a trait of Xander that made him all-important in the future.
Looking into her lap, Amara didn't really know what else to say. Xander was right; knowing about Angel's love really didn't help Buffy at the moment. Not when she had to choose whether or not to kill him or not. She had probably caused more problems for her then before.
"It does help Xander . . . "Amara was surprised to see Buffy smiling, albeit a little shakily at Amara, no hatred in her face at all. "Telling me wouldn't have changed it Xander. When it comes down to it I don't think I would want to take back that one night with Angel for anything, and him loving me makes me feel better."
Willow got up and walked over to Buffy and wrapped her into a tight hug, while Buffy cried softly. Feeling uncomfortable, Amara didn't really know what to do now. She still felt just as bad. She glanced over at Giles who was staying quiet throughout all of this. Not surprising really, her secret had cost the life of Jenny.
"I don't like knowing what is going to happen, since it's so much pressure on me. SO many things will happen, and I want to tell you all there is, stop it from happening. But . . . Some good stuff happens as well, and then none of that would happen." Shaking her head, she held back the tears and the looks from everyone were making her uncomfortable. "Angel was one of my best friends and I knew what would happen to him . . . He's like an older brother to me. I loved him and I didn't tell him even when I knew this would hurt him more then any of us." She pierced Giles with a look as he started to deny that. He had fallen for Ms. Calendar and her death had hurt him too much. "It is true, but he and I had a talk about this and he made a good point. For all I know fate may NEED this to happen, so if I had told you, it might have found some different way for it all to happen." Smiling wryly she shrugged. "Being in love and not touching . . . It might have happened at anytime for Buffy and Angel. But this will end . . . somewhat well."
The shred of hope proved to be what everyone needed, they needed to know everyone would live through this. In fact Amara didn't know whether or not she could actually let any of her friends die, but luckily none of them had that coming, not as far as her dream foretold, but she knew that many times they would all wish they were dead.
A long time before, Amara had already decided that she was going to bring this all to an end, so to that purpose she had arranged to meet Spike with a plan that would please him and everyone else. Amara was fully aware that this wasn't the way it played out in her dream, but the end result would be the same, and at least this way it would save Giles even more pain.
In Ms. Calendar's notes had been the spell to give Angelus back his soul, and Willow and Giles were working on finding out as much about it as they could, trying to see if it would work or not, but they would need some distraction to keep Angelus busy, since as far as her dream was considered he was working on destroying Sunnydale completely. Amara's problem in all this was the outcome for Angel and Buffy, according to her dream. Angel would go through a lot of pain if it went, as it should. There was nothing she could do about it though, didn't stop her from feeling bad though. Amara almost had told Giles and Willow to ignore the soul restoration spell, knowing full well that it wouldn't work in time. But they needed to THINK that it might work.
At 1 in the morning, Spike knocked on her door, uncommon for a vampire to say the least. She had half expected to turn a corner and find him sitting on her bed, but then again that thought had lead to unbidden dreams that involved him unclothed on the bed. Those thoughts had been properly banished to the back of her head. She went and opened the door, ignoring the fact that she was wearing her pair of old blue pajamas, her hair in pigtails. She also ignored the urge to make sure her hair was straight enough, or if her clothes were good enough. Spike was not someone she needed to become infatuated with. He was destined for other people, namely Buffy. Though of course both of them at this point in time would emphatically deny that point.
Spike was of course dressed as was his usual, in his black leather duster, black jeans . . . black shirt. One really had to wonder if he was simply colour blind or whether he thought the black promoted his Big Bad image. He rose an eyebrow at Amara's choice of clothing, more likely at the fact that she didn't have any stakes hidden anywhere he could see, and as far as he was concerned that was foolery on her behalf, since every time she saw him he threatened to kill her. He had as of yet, not fulfilled his part of that statement, and since she had yet to die she didn't really feel he was heartfelt in threatening her.
"What in the bloody hell do you WANT??" Spike muttered, stalking into her apartment and into the kitchen, sitting down without even a by your leave. But then he was a vampire, and his manners had in all likelihood been left back in the 19th century. "What's this amazing plan you have that you seem to think I'm going to actually follow through with?"
Following after him and sitting down she pushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. She no longer bothered to offer him anything to drink, not after that first visit. She knew he disliked pig's blood. In actuality she didn't have any blood at the moment. With Angel . . . preoccupied being evil, she didn't have many more vampire visitors.
Deciding against beating around the bush with this particular idea, Amara decided to just come right out and say it. "Take me to Angelus. Make him think he has you on his side. While I've got him preoccupied, Willow and Giles are going to be working on getting him his soul back."
There was no real doubt that Spike didn't see the advantage to himself in this particular plan, since he was glaring at Amara quite coldly. "I see no need for you to involve me. It's no secret I'm not . . . fond of Angelus, but why would I give you to him so HE can kill you instead of me?"
"Drusilla spends more time with him now then you, correct?" Taking from his silence that she was correct, Amara continued on. "She was always, enraptured, with her sire. With him around AND evil you don't really stand much of a chance with her. HELP us get his soul back and he'll be out of the way." Twitching slightly at the idea of giving Spike back to Drusilla, Amara swallowed and kept going. "Then you can take Drusilla off somewhere and go back to being THE Big Bad to her . . . "
Now this part of the plan seemed to interest Spike. There really was no doubt that he disliked Angelus, or Peaches as he had a tendency to call him. That he loved Drusilla was also something that wasn't in doubt. So this plan was all around a winner for Spike, as long as he could just walk away without killing anyway. None of this plan was really all that different in her dream either. Amara distinctly remembered Spike helping out, just so he could have all of Drusilla's attention again.
"So you'll help?" Amara leaned forward, smiling slightly at Spike. As was usual Spike narrowed his eyes at her lack of fear even when she was sitting two feet away from him, wearing pajamas and with no real weapon on hand. He hated to be seen as a weakling. Though she had tried to tell him on more then one occasion that though she wasn't afraid of him didn't mean she didn't FEAR him. Just not for her . . . She had no idea why either. Maybe because she knew he had his good points, even if they were buried deep. Of course it was this exact thinking that managed to continue her childish infatuation. She would have been better off having a crush on Angel.
"Let me clear this up a bit. You want me to take you to Angelus. In the hopes that will distract him? For what?"
"Buffy will be there as well . . . She wants to try and get through to him." Well that was her hope. In actuality she just needed to be the one to kill him if that was necessary.
"Okay . . . So that might help. And somewhere else there will be Red and the Watcher doing some bloody spell to give the poof back his bleedin' soul?" At her nod, he went on. "And I get out my Drusilla while the bi . . . " He cut off at her glare. "While the Slayer has at it with Angelus. What about you . . . ?"
Blinking unexpectedly at him, Amara didn't know the point of the question. "What do you mean? I'll be fine . . . As long as you and Angelus don't kill me" She grinned meaning that to be a joke, but it seemed Spike took it in all seriousness.
" I know you and Peaches used to be all friendly like. This is a different bloke though. He WILL kill you at first chance unless you have a reason for him not to."
"Spike I didn't know you cared." Amara rose an eyebrow, grinning. Spike rolled his eyes slouching lower into his chair.
"I'd rather end your annoying life myself."
"Quite Quite." Spike's attitude was actually quite amusing to Amara herself, since she knew he didn't really care about any human living. In all likelihood he probably did just want to kill her himself. "Actually though I do think I know a reason. Just remind him I know the future. Angel knew that himself, so Angelus would as well. I'll be obliging enough so he doesn't kill me before he has to. So you going to help or not Spike? Angel would never . . . I mean Angelus would never think I went to him willingly. I need you to "kidnap" me."
Nodding Spike stood up, running a hand through his spiked blonde hair. "I suppose I might as well. Drusilla's doting too much on that old fool. If she's away from him she'll be back to dwelling on MY fortune." Narrowing his eyes at her he made a change to her plans. "I will do it without you knowing though. If this gets too planned then Angelus might sniff it out. He's a little cautious in his old age."
"But . . . How will I tell Buffy then and the rest of them?" Spike was already grinning at what he saw as the best part of his genius.
"Simple. Angelus would WANT Buffy to witness her friend's torture. I'll just call her and make some stupid threat and tell her to come. She'll know it's a trap of course, but I think Angelus would get a kick out of it. I'm sure before she runs off she'd tell the other Scoobies don't you?"
There wasn't any real fault in his logic. Angelus so far had shown a callous disregard for people's feelings, not at all surprising since he was well . . . evil. The idea of Buffy seeing a friend tortured would please him to no end.
"I suppose the hair dye hasn't fried ALL of your brains then William." Clearing her throat when Spike took offense at her statement she stood up as well. " I think it will work. Good night Spike." She left him to let himself out and sat at her kitchen table for the rest of the night, puzzling out the kinks in the plan, worrying about it not working out, until she heard the birds chirping and realized that it was morning already, and time to go to school. It seemed almost wrong to go to school and try and act as if everything was normal when it so obviously was not.