Part 4: The One
If she had time to smile she would at the reaction her body had--it was as if it moved on it's own volition. Standing and almost sensing when Spike walked out the kitchen and followed her and Morpheus. "They're already assembling outside--we have to distract them away from here," Morpheus told them.
Spike looked up. "The roof."
Buffy nodded and before she knew it her small legs were speeding in rates she had never dreamed of.
"This way," Morpheus said over his shoulder to the Slayer and the vampire and ran up the stairs with them in tow. They ran to the ledge of the roof and looked down. The humanoid agents automatically looked up and met their eyes.
"Damn," Spike cursed and grabbed Buffy's hands, "we have to jump."
Buffy looked around wildly--the next building was a good twenty feet away... and it was taller. She halted and looked at the two men.
"There's no way--I saw this scene, Neo ends up kissing the pavement."
"Don't think about it, Buffy--it's in you. Just tell your mind you can do it and you will, simple as that."
"Can I tell my body not to break into a million pieces when I land?" She asked heatedly and glaring at Spike who was already in position to jump.
"Actually you can... you are the one." He was calm and collected--she wanted to rip his head off. She groaned loudly.
"I'm real--don't you get that--this fall will kill me!"
A warm hand wrapped around her trembling one. She looked up at Spike. "I won't let you go." Ok--it was more of a challenge. Spike was willing to do it, and she--the chosen one, was not. She gripped his hand and nodded.
"Now!" Morpheus cried and he ran and she saw him jump... twenty feet and rising --landing perfect on both feet, knees bent.
"You see, simple as pie," Spike smiled.
"Pie is actually very complicated," she told him and bit her lip.
"Yeah, but you don't think of that when you eat it, do you?" She looked up at him and nodded again--almost trying to convince herself. "Listen, we can't get back home unless you find a way around this--the Oracle said it was all up to you."
"Up to me?"
The conversation was cut short as both of them heard the door leading to the roof being ripped open. There stood all three agents. A tug of her hand was all she felt as Spike pulled her and they ran.
I can jump I can jump I can jump....
Her mantra kept going on and on in her head.
And they jumped.
Yet the agents behind them were already firing when they jumped. She had no idea how she made it but she did, her legs lifted her into the air, Spike's secure hand wrapped hers and they made it. They landed and rolled on the ground, quickly standing up and staring at each other in amazement.
"Wow," she said, breathlessly.
Spike nodded, not really believing himself that they had actually crossed.
Buffy turned to look at the agents.. but she felt heat rush through her body as the bullets entered her chest. She heard Spike screaming her name in the background but all she could think was that she was dying... again. The only word she could get past her bloody lips was 'sorry' as she hit the pavement.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ok, guys, I'm really starting to worry... if Buffy would leave..." Willow said.
"Buffy wouldn't just leave, especially with Captain Peroxide--no way no how!" Xander denied.
"Xander we don't know anything," Tara said gently--she had really begun to worry. The last time she had seen Buffy she was not in the healthiest of emotional conditions.
"We've searched Sunnydale high and low--we've contacted the Angel crew and they've heard nothing nor seen anything..." Willow said.
"Plus they have more problems than they can deal with," Xander snorted.
They all nodded.
"Where's Dawn?" he asked.
"Her room... Anya's with her," Tara sipped her hot cocoa.
"We need to find those nerds... and we need to get Buffy back," Willow said, very determined.
"And Spike," Tara reminded her.
Willow smiled at her. "And Spike."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Think, think, think," Warren chanted over and over to himself. This was not good--something he couldn't control was never good. He thought he had it all under control but of course there was always a loophole, an Achille's heel.
What was his? He had no clue but he knew it was there. His plan was falling apart and they had had to move all of their equipment four times in the past 48 hours because the Scoobies were hot on their trail... only they didn't know it.
"Anything?" Andrew asked. He was a mass of pure nerves. Shivering once in a while and biting his nails until they bled.
Warren sighed and avoided eye contact with any of his other companions. "No... nothing."
"This is not cool, man, not cool," Andrew said while Jonathan huffed in the background.
Warren was reaching his patience limit--if he didn't find Buffy and Spike in the next couple of hours he was going to give up. What's the worst that could happen?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
His hands were shaking as he lifted her now frail body in his arms and ran as fast as he thought his feet could carry him... they went faster. This heart that they had implanted in him was pounding in his chest but all he could think about was getting Buffy to the phone. Turning the corner a large hand grabbed his shoulder and pushed him into the alley. It was Morpheus.
"How is she?" he asked.
Spike shook his head and looked at the trembling unconscious girl in his arms. "Not good, mate."
Morpheus pushed Buffy's sweat dampened hair from her forehead. "Buffy? Can you hear me?"
She moaned and clutched at Spike. "Spike?" she whispered.
Spike griped her closer. "I'm here, luv."
She whimpered. Spike looked at Morpheus frantically. "Do something!"
"It's in her mind--she must realize that."
Spike growled. "She's bloody unconscious, you 'nit! You try tellin' her that!"
Morpheus put on his resolve face and shook Buffy making her groan. "Listen to me, Buffy--you're not shot--this isn't real. It's in your head! Do you hear me?"
Inside her head everything was turning like a bright roller coaster that showed the earth and then the sky the next moment. She wanted to clutch desperately for something--anything but it was all too quick. She could feel something surrounding her and then something speaking to her--speaking to her in different tongues.
... but something else was calling her. A luring chant. A welcomed embrace from long ago. That place of peace or warmth.. of darkness. She wanted that place, craved it even--it made all the sense in the world yet none at all. One could not have understood it unless one had been there.
...who had been there?
It was a gawking familiarity that was killing her inside.
Buffy....Buffy...Listen to him...
Was that reality? Someone was calling her... someone that meant.. something to her... someone that was so near yet so far away at the same time.
It's not real... this is not real, it's all in your mind...
Realities were shifting under her nose. Where was she at? One moment she was floating the next moment she was falling.
Falling...
Falling...
Falling...
Into a bottomless pit... then she realized... she didn't want to fall... she didn't want to be alone... there were things she cared about... people she loved and that mattered.
It was as if she froze in place. She opened her eyes and there is was. A door at the end of the tunnel--a door that was lit in florescent blue light. She started for it... almost there--she broke out into a run and yanked it open without further thought.
She jerked awake in his arms, and he almost let out a shout of triumph. "Buffy?"
She looked around wildly. "I'm not gone."
Spike set her down and let her lean against the wall. He tucked in a loose strand of hair. "Slayer?"
She grabbed the hand that was touching her hair and brought it to her chest. He looked in awe as the wound that she had nearly died from was completely healed, only a thin white scar grazed her golden skin. "I know how to get home," she said as she breathed in deeply. "Call Tank--ask him to look for a coding that contains many 8's."
"Many 8's?" Morpheus asked confused.
"Yes, you two work on that and I'll distract the agents," she said, grabbing Spike's gun and cocking it loudly.
"Buffy! They almost killed you," Spike tried to reason with her as Morpheus called Tank.
She smiled and him and hefted up the large weapon. "Yeah--but this time I know how to defeat them." She grabbed him quickly and pressed her lips to him, pulling back she winked and walked out of the alley.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
TBC...
(PREVIEW FOR THE NEXT PART: "Hum... Buffy? One of those out of the ballpark questions... why are you holding Spike's hand?" Xander asked.)
