A/N: Hope you like this. Constructive criticism will be appreciated, flames will be put out.
Disclaimer: I do not own/know any of these characters. (Oh, by the way, as a warning there is no mention of Tara here and Anya isn't that big a character).
BOOK ONE – INTO THE DARKNESS
PROLOGUE
"A mental institute!" Willow cried. They wouldn't…couldn't…send her there. Especially since the people there would just knock the powers out of her. Just because she went nuts and wanted to end the world for a moment, she was being robbed of her powers. Just because, after resurrecting Buffy, her powers seemed too much for her to handle they were taking away her magic.
She sat there in her ugly "cell" of a room in the mental institute. She got off her rock-hard cot and paced the room. She couldn't take it anymore. WHY??? WHY??? WHY???
A knock came through the door.
"Yes?" she said angelically.
"Medication."
She didn't want to take their medication! It would take her powers away! She needed to think fast. She opened up her suitcase and pulled her book of spells out. She sat down on her bed and opened the book to page that she'd marked earlier.
She quickly decoded the spell then recited it in Latin, as required. In a second she was…
Another knock…
The door swung open…
Willow was gone.
"That was smooth." Willow muttered sarcastically, brushing herself off after a bumpy landing. She looked around. She was standing in the middle of a gloomy room. "When I said the spell, I wanted to go to Paris. Not some parallel purgatory."
"You wanted answers, girlie." A voice croaked. A blue flame cackled to life next to Willow. "And I'm giving them to you."
When her eyes adjusted to the light she spotted a man in a hooded black cloak standing in the far corner of the wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling stone room. "Who are you?"
"Wynth." The man said simply.
"Yeah, now I really know who you are." She replied sarcastically.
"I'm Wynth. Son of the Hell God, Mothos. Mothos trained me for this." Wynth answered.
Willow made a face. "Mothos? He was a weakling. He still is. An ass with a shit load of stupidity crammed into his brain. He opened the magicks portal 4,000,000 years ago and unleashed all the demons."
"Mothos is great!" Wynth roared, his scratchy voice was strong for a moment, "He unleashed you. YOU! Be proud."
"Me?" Willow's voice quivered slightly. What did Wynth mean by that?
"Yes! You!" Wynth hissed, his voice cracking slightly, "You were given your powers so that you could do evil. Not good. But you made friends with the slayer and the wheels began turning. The times changed and your powers grew stronger. Then the slayer died and again the cycle got thrown off course and the prophesy changed. Without knowing it you resurrected her and launched a new chain of events, which angered Mothos."
"Why?"
"By resurrecting the slayer…she has become…one of us."
"WHAT?"
"I want your soul. If you want your powers." Mothos laughed evilly.
Willow, scared out of her wits, backed away from the Hell God. She bumped into Wynth, who, without his cloak, looked hideous. He caressed her arm. "Either that or you're mine."
Willow jerked away. "Soul and him versus magic and no soul and obeying whatever you say?"
Mothos nodded. "You're pure evil anyway."
"Well if that's the contest…where do I put my soul?"
ONE
"What's that?" Buffy Summers said, walking into the store to find Giles hunched over a thick black book. She dumped her bag next to Giles feet and peered at the book. "Looks boring?"
"It's actually quite…interesting." Giles said, shaking his head but not looking up from whatever it was he was reading.
"I can't understand the least of it, so who am I to comment?" Buffy shrugged.
"Listen." Giles said, "'A light, a dark, and a warrior in between; who they are, are not who they seem.'"
"Ooh." Buffy shivered in mock nervousness; "It's giving me the wiggings just thinking about it."
Giles smiled and shut the book. "Where are you headed to?"
"Just stopped by to pick up one of Dawn's schoolbooks. She forgot it here yesterday." Buffy said, walking over to the counters and pulling an Algebra book off a shelf. "I'm planning on dropping it off at her school then heading back home."
"Uh…you know, someone told me Spike was back." Giles said.
"Really!?" at the mention of that name Buffy's heart began thudding wildly in her chest. Any normal person could mistake this as fear and hatred. But Buffy wasn't a normal person. Yes, she had all the right to be mad but…she wasn't. She wasn't scared…she wasn't even the least bit…annoyed. And somewhere along the way…that was what scared her.
But she was sure. This was not fear. This was a mixture of excitement…nerves. Even hope was on her mind. Hope for what?
But before she could answer herself, Xander's voice began echoing in her head. He'd been saying something like, "Who's back?"
"Um…" Buffy muttered, stealing a nervous glance at Giles. Anya, who had come in with Xander, was standing next to Xander waiting for an answer too.
"It's Spike. It's Spike, isn't it?" she said, realization dawning on her.
"Spike!" Xander exclaimed, "Of all the nerve! I could just go over to his crypt and…
Knowing Xander, he wasn't planning on going to Spike's crypt to give him a big welcome-home hug.
"Xander! Xander!" Buffy grabbed Xander by the arm, trying to pull him back. They were nearer Spike's crypt now.
"Spike!" Xander called, pushing his way in.
"Bloody hell!" Spike yelled in surprise. He'd been sitting down, reading a book.
"Oh, don't go all 'bloody' on me!" Xander hissed.
"Xander!" Buffy ran into the crypt then stopped abruptly at the sight of Spike. The familiar bleached, spiked-with-gel, light-blond hair and black clothes. The black leather jacket, pants and undershirt. "Spike." She said softly. Hearing that name come out of her mouth seemed almost strange. Especially hearing herself say it in front of Spike. She hadn't seen him in a while.
"Buffy." Spike said, his breath catching in his throat at the sight of her. Her sandy hair flowing like waves around her shoulders. His heart ached just thinking about how much he hurt her. Or how much he could have hurt her. For a moment his eyes met hers, hastily he looked away.
"Xander, Anya." Xander said, breaking through the silence and pulling Anya in. "Now that we all remember each others' names…get out of Sunnydale!"
"Excuse me?" Spike said, turning to Xander, a surprised expression on his face.
"You heard me!" Xander spat, "Leave! Out! Hasta Lavista! We don't want you here!"
"This is my bloody crypt," Spike said, stepping up closer to Xander, his voice dangerously hushed, "And I get to bloody choose when I want to bloody leave."
Xander nearly cowered but managed to keep his composure. Why did Spike have to be so tall and intimidating? Then he looked up into Spike's eyes. Something was different. Something was…off…or on. He dropped the stake he'd been planning on using on him.
"What now? You're looking at me like I'm a bloody psychopath or something!" Spike said raising an eyebrow.
Xander shook his head and cleared his throat. What did it matter if Spike looked a bit different? This was Spike! A vampire! The bad ass son of a $%*& who tried to hurt Buffy.
Without thinking, he hurled a mean punch at Spike's nose. Spike staggered backward, clutching at the bridge of his noise, fresh blood trickling down to his chin.
"Xander!" Buffy and Anya exclaimed.
"What the bloody – " Spike said, cutting himself off and punching Xander at the side of his jaw.
Xander recovered quickly and grabbed Spike, spinning him around and pushing him at a mirror that was covered with a cloth. The cloth flew off and the mirror crashed onto Spike.
"SPIKE!" Buffy cried, pushing past Xander toward Spike.
"You have a reflection?" Buffy said, surprised. She had just lifted the mirror off Spike's back and began gathering the broken pieces when she realized she was seeing him in the remnants of the mirror.
"Yes. I'm not a bloody vampire." Spike said bitterly, helping himself up and dusting himself off.
"You're not?" Buffy said, dropping the broken pieces of glass that she'd been holding as she staggered backward slightly.
"No. I'm not." Spike said, the bitterness in his voice wavering slightly.
"W-why?" Buffy asked, her voice shaking from shock and surprise. "H-h-how?"
Before he could answer her, Xander and Anya appeared. "What happened?!" Xander demanded.
"Spike's not a vampire."
"Yeah. Right."
"WHAT?"
"How?"
"You must be kidding!"
"Buffy, this is not funny!"
"Can't be!"
"He is!" Buffy protested her friends' claims.
"I got a soul!" Spike said, over the noise. Everything went quiet. "Now that all of you bloody know about my new-bloody-found identity, you can leave."
Xander looked at him strangely. "Yeah? I don't trust you. What if you bite us when we turn around? Huh? What makes you think I trust you?"
"Like I said, I'm not a bloody vampire. And," Spike said, ushering them outside his crypt, "I never said you had to bloody trust me."
He slammed the door in their faces moments later.
"He's a what?" Giles asked, confused.
"I don't know what he is!" Buffy said, exasperated.
"He's human. He's got a soul. Now his sick, disturbed mind can hurt people during the day too! AND he doesn't have that chip in him." Xander said, moving a piece of ice around in his mouth as he applied cold compress at the place Spike had punched him, "He didn't even flinch when he nearly dislocated my jaw!"
"Well, let's see how he felt when you nearly broke his nose!" Buffy snapped, pacing the room."
"Why do you defend him? After all that he's done to you! I swear, if I were you I would – "
"Well, unfortunately, I am not like you, Xander." Buffy snapped.
"I can't believe you defend him!" Xander retorted, bitterly shaking his head.
"So if a vampire gets a soul…then he becomes a…? What does he become?" Any interrupted, not wanting to put up with silly callbacks.
"He becomes human." Xander insisted.
"He becomes…" Giles suddenly had an idea. He excitedly drew out a book from under the counters. "'Not quite human, not ghost nor ghoul, more like a man who found a soul. Chosen to be the warrior, he shall save us all.' This is it!"
"That is what?" Buffy asked, eyebrow raised. She stopped pacing and looked over Giles shoulder at the book.
"This is our clue! This is it!" Giles exclaimed excitedly.
"I am lost." Buffy sighed.
"Same here." Xander shook his head, half because he couldn't believe he just agreed with Buffy at that time and half because he couldn't understand half of what Giles was trying to say.
"Shut up and listen, you guys." Anya snapped.
"This is Spike." Giles breathed, slipping on his glasses and reading a few more lines.
"What? Giles, could you speak in English?" Xander complained.
"This is Spike!" Giles snapped the book closed.
"I think we got that much down, Giles." Xander said sarcastically, rolling his eyes impatiently.
"No, no, no! This is Spike!"
"Giles, we know!" Buffy exclaimed, exasperated. She began pacing again.
"Just let me finish! This is Spike!" Giles said (Buffy and Xander threw exhausted looks at each other but chose to keep their mouths shut – to Anya's advantage, because she wanted to actually hear what Giles had to say), "Spike is the prophesized one. The warrior!"
"WHAT!?" Buffy exclaimed, she stopped dead in her tracks and shook her head in surprise.
"Now I know what he becomes!" Xander said with a satisfied smile.
"A warrior." Anya said simply.
"No." Xander grinned triumphantly, "A freak!"
"He's the warrior. He's the one." Giles said softly, as if he were still in awe and shock, as if hearing the words would actually make everyone believe them.
Buffy shook her head. Something in that told her this was NOT GOOD. NOT GOOD AT ALL. She didn't know why. It just seemed…wrong…