The Stars and What Once Was - March 2009
Chapter Thirty-Nine
"What do you mean Giles is missing?" Buffy fumed at Xander and Clem.
"Well, we mean that Giles is missing, that he's not here." Xander huffed back.
"Uh, guys. I found Giles' glasses outside of the door. There was a small trail of blood going around the corner of the hotel, into the alley." Willow piped in.
"Let me guess, he was knocked unconscious and dragged off?" Buffy asked angrily.
"Looks that way." Gunn added simply.
"Great. This is just wonderful, now we have to go and rescue Giles right after we rescued Faith." Buffy fumed once more.
"Hey, don't get pissy with us. We weren't the ones out there playing smoochies with the evil undead." Anya added.
Xander beamed at his now-girlfriend-again proudly. He couldn't have said it better himself.
"I wasn't playing..he kissed me.." Buffy tried to finish, she was vainly trying to push the crimson out of her face.
"Well, at least we have Dru as a bargaining tool." Angel added.
"Great we stole Spike's girlfriend. That'll make him not want to torch us all, all the less." Xander responded sarcastically.
"As brilliant as your not helping is Xander, perhaps we could find something constructive to say." Wesley added.
"Maybe we could get Drusilla to fess up to where the hide out is." Willow said.
"How are we going to do that? The nut case speaks in riddles all the time. I guess we could try to torture some sense into her." Buffy said, only half jokingly.
"Actually, the torturing probably won't work. See, she likes to be, uh, well, tortured. The only thing you're going to do is get her excited." Angel finished, very guiltily.
"Gee, wonder how she got like that?" Xander said in an accusatory tone.
"Now is not the time to play the blame game guys. Lorne and I'll go in there and see if we can read her at all. She may unwittingly tell us what we need to know." Cordelia said calmly.
Xander and Angel glared at one another once more before going their separate ways. Angel couldn't figure out how Xander had so readily accepted humanized Spike, but still hated him with a fiery passion. Xander couldn't figure out what Cordelia saw in Brood Fest of the century.
Cordelia and Lorne walked into Wesley's office, where Dru was chained to a chair and blindfolded. Angel didn't want her playing any of her little mind games on his friends, except for maybe Xander, who wasn't really a friend, more like someone he tolerated. Lorne and Cordelia sat on opposite sides of the crazy vampire. Angel and Buffy sat on the other end of the room, just in case something didn't go as planned.
"Dru, we aren't going to hurt you, we just need to know where Spike is at." Cordelia said as calmly as she could.
"It's all the mean Slayer's fault." Was all Drusilla would say.
Lorne and Cordelia sighed at one another.
"Come on gorgeous. Just tell us where the bleached wonder is and we'll let you go." Lorne tried.
"You all lie, just like my Spoike. It isn't his fault you know." Dru cryptically replied.
"Gee, I think I'm actually beginning to sympathize with Spike for putting up with her for so long." Buffy piped in.
"Shhhhh slayer. I can hear your heart. It's his, he's gone. My daring knight is dead, left me." Dru began to whine.
Angel looked at his childe in pity. He knew this wasn't going to get them anywhere. He should have just said so in the first place.
"Cordy, honey, you might have to try to read her, you're never going to get anything that makes sense out of her."
"OK." Cordelia replied.
Cordelia reached to take Dru's hands. He face froze in terror as all of Drusilla's life passed before Cordelia's eyes. The murder, the torture, Angelus chaining her up, beating her. Spike, he was at Angelus' knees, pleading with him. Angelus raping Spike, Spike comforting Dru. Darla fighting with Spike, leaving him to fend for Drusilla. Nightmares that came true. Tea and cakes with Dru's mother, dead flowers, graves, blood, death, holy water, near death. Drinking blood, fucking Angel, Spike consoling her. Spike making love to her, Spike cleaning her wounds, Spike carrying her out of Prague. Spike leaving her, leaving her for the Slayer, even though he didn't know it yet. Spike being played, dark, shadowing man wishing for her Daddy's and the mean Slayer's death. He's using Spike, wants to kill Spike too. Cordelia flew back against the wall, tears readily streaming down her face. Angel looked at her worriedly.
"Sweetie." Angel said, reaching down to help her up.
Cordelia backed away and stood up on her own. She stared at Angel, her eyes filled with over a century of horror. She reached toward Drusilla and pulled the blind fold off of Drusilla. She bent over and stroked the vampire's hair back so it wasn't in her eyes anymore. Drusilla seemed to be as shaken by the experience and Cordy had been. Dru's eyes, too, were filled with sadness, and she simply looked at the floor.
"Cordelia, what's going on?" Angel asked, his voice filled with concern.
"God, you had the nerve to call Spike a monster." She said before realizing what she was saying.
"What did you see? Did you see where Spike is now?" Buffy interrupted.
"I saw everything. And I mean *everything*!" Cordelia spat in Angel's direction.
"Honey." Angel began.
"Just leave me alone. I need to sort through some things. Please, I need to lay down for a little bit. Buffy, would you help me to my room?"
Buffy shrugged at Angel and helped Cordelia up to her room. Lorne just looked at Angel.
"Man, you are going to be in the dog house for weeks." Lorne said, sympathetically.
"Oh, how could I have let her do that. I should have known she would have seen everything." Angel said sadly.
"Why don't you take a walk? Clear your head. I'm sure that's what Cordelia is doing right now. I'm sure it was a little bit of a shock to see what her lover's alter ego is really like. She still loves you. You know that right?" Lorne asked.
"I know, I'm just not sure if she should." Angel responded somberly.
And with that Angel left the room, leaving Lorne to vampire sit.
*****************************
"Cordelia, are you OK?" Buffy asked seriously after she helped the former cheerleader into her bed.
"I'm just shocked. I mean I knew what Angelus was capable of, I just never thought it was to that extreme."
"He was a different person then. You have to keep that in mind. I mean Giles and Wesley know *all* of the gritty details and they still care about Angel. And I know enough to understand why you are so freaked." Buffy said, attempting to comfort her friend.
"It's just, I mean, I totally get why Spike hates Angel so much."
"Yeah, he told me once, a long time ago about their extra curricular activities." Buffy said softly.
"Spike, without a soul, humiliated himself over and over again to save Drusilla from the wrath that was Angelus." Cordelia said.
"Yeah, well I'm sure that's part of the reason I fell in love with him before he went on his soul quest." Buffy responded sadly.
Cordelia then reached over and held Buffy's hand, trying to return the comfort.
"We'll find him. And we will fix him. He'll be our annoying Spike again before you know it." Cordelia said brightly.
"I hope so."
"You just have to be willing to do what you have to do." Cordelia said, almost sounding as if she was possessed.
"What did you mean by that?"
"What?"
Buffy then realized that Cordelia had no recollection of making her last remark. Buffy was beginning to become mightily perturbed by all the cryptic messages flying around.
"So what are we going to do about her royal loonyness?" Buffy asked.
"We have to help her Buffy. I know she's a demon, but she's been through so much pain. If nothing else, we have to put her out of her misery. She's lost her whole family. Darla, Angel, Spike, they all left her in one way or another."
"It's OK Cordy. I'll make sure Dru is well taken care, and I don't mean all dusty like either. You need to lay down and get some rest." Buffy said.
With that Buffy left Cordelia to take a nap. She then went to check on Faith. Maybe, if she was lucky, which Buffy wasn't counting on, Faith would be able to remember where Spike's hid out was.
************************
When Buffy entered the room that Faith was in, she found that the Slayer healing power had been kicked into overdrive. Faith didn't look like she was going to be running a marathon anytime soon, but she looked conscious and she looked like she could talk. Faith and Buffy stared at one another with predatory glances before Buffy sat in the chair next to Faith's bed. Connor and Dawn had patched up all her wounds and were gathering their stuff up to leave.
"B." Faith simply said.
"Faith, been awhile." Buffy coldly replied.
"It's nice to see you never gave up screwing vamps." Faith spat at her.
"Nice to see you still look like trailer trash." Buffy replied.
Connor and Dawn rolled their eyes at one another before they left. Dawn thought about putting a referee in the room with the two Slayers, just in case.
"Well, enough with pleasantries. Thanks for the help." Faith said, breaking the ice.
"Well, I guess it's kind of my fault that you were put in that situation." Buffy replied.
"Five by Five here. So I see the new boyfriend is a little bit nuttier than Angelus was." Faith said nonchalantly
Buffy gave her a 'you have no idea' kind of look before she launched into the twisted, dark, and ugly mess that was her and Spike's relationship.
"That sucks Buff. So are we going to go kick his ass, or are you going to moon over him some more?" Faith said frankly.
"Nice to see you're still sympathetic to other people's needs. You are not kicking anyone's ass, at least not for a few days. And yes I'm going to go kick his ass as soon as I can find him."
"Why didn't you just ask then. Knew you weren't here just to check up on little ol' me." Faith said, fluttering her eye lashes in a mocking fashion.
"I'm guessing warehouse or abandoned factory." Buffy said.
"Definitely warehouse. Outskirts of town. Can't say exactly where though. Know it's on the west end of town. I mean Spikey pretty much kicked the shit out of me before using me as a fountain drink."
Buffy winced at Faith's blunt description. She thanked Faith for all her help and got up to leave. Faith called her, before she made it out the door.
"Hey, if it's any consolation, he is pretty hot, for a vampire that is. Clem and Angel told me about him, sounds like he's a good guy when he's not all possessed by demons." Faith said.
Buffy turned and smiled at Faith. It was the closest thing to a compliment that she had gotten from Faith, in, well, ever. Buffy closed the door to let Faith get some rest. Her thoughts immediately turned to Giles. She was really worried about him, but she also knew that he was tough when he had to be. And she didn't think Spike would do much to him, she wasn't sure why, but she knew he was gunning for her, he really didn't care about the rest of them. It comforted her a little, but there was a little voice in the back of her mind telling her that she had to prepare for what needed to be done. Whatever that meant.
"What do you mean Giles is missing?" Buffy fumed at Xander and Clem.
"Well, we mean that Giles is missing, that he's not here." Xander huffed back.
"Uh, guys. I found Giles' glasses outside of the door. There was a small trail of blood going around the corner of the hotel, into the alley." Willow piped in.
"Let me guess, he was knocked unconscious and dragged off?" Buffy asked angrily.
"Looks that way." Gunn added simply.
"Great. This is just wonderful, now we have to go and rescue Giles right after we rescued Faith." Buffy fumed once more.
"Hey, don't get pissy with us. We weren't the ones out there playing smoochies with the evil undead." Anya added.
Xander beamed at his now-girlfriend-again proudly. He couldn't have said it better himself.
"I wasn't playing..he kissed me.." Buffy tried to finish, she was vainly trying to push the crimson out of her face.
"Well, at least we have Dru as a bargaining tool." Angel added.
"Great we stole Spike's girlfriend. That'll make him not want to torch us all, all the less." Xander responded sarcastically.
"As brilliant as your not helping is Xander, perhaps we could find something constructive to say." Wesley added.
"Maybe we could get Drusilla to fess up to where the hide out is." Willow said.
"How are we going to do that? The nut case speaks in riddles all the time. I guess we could try to torture some sense into her." Buffy said, only half jokingly.
"Actually, the torturing probably won't work. See, she likes to be, uh, well, tortured. The only thing you're going to do is get her excited." Angel finished, very guiltily.
"Gee, wonder how she got like that?" Xander said in an accusatory tone.
"Now is not the time to play the blame game guys. Lorne and I'll go in there and see if we can read her at all. She may unwittingly tell us what we need to know." Cordelia said calmly.
Xander and Angel glared at one another once more before going their separate ways. Angel couldn't figure out how Xander had so readily accepted humanized Spike, but still hated him with a fiery passion. Xander couldn't figure out what Cordelia saw in Brood Fest of the century.
Cordelia and Lorne walked into Wesley's office, where Dru was chained to a chair and blindfolded. Angel didn't want her playing any of her little mind games on his friends, except for maybe Xander, who wasn't really a friend, more like someone he tolerated. Lorne and Cordelia sat on opposite sides of the crazy vampire. Angel and Buffy sat on the other end of the room, just in case something didn't go as planned.
"Dru, we aren't going to hurt you, we just need to know where Spike is at." Cordelia said as calmly as she could.
"It's all the mean Slayer's fault." Was all Drusilla would say.
Lorne and Cordelia sighed at one another.
"Come on gorgeous. Just tell us where the bleached wonder is and we'll let you go." Lorne tried.
"You all lie, just like my Spoike. It isn't his fault you know." Dru cryptically replied.
"Gee, I think I'm actually beginning to sympathize with Spike for putting up with her for so long." Buffy piped in.
"Shhhhh slayer. I can hear your heart. It's his, he's gone. My daring knight is dead, left me." Dru began to whine.
Angel looked at his childe in pity. He knew this wasn't going to get them anywhere. He should have just said so in the first place.
"Cordy, honey, you might have to try to read her, you're never going to get anything that makes sense out of her."
"OK." Cordelia replied.
Cordelia reached to take Dru's hands. He face froze in terror as all of Drusilla's life passed before Cordelia's eyes. The murder, the torture, Angelus chaining her up, beating her. Spike, he was at Angelus' knees, pleading with him. Angelus raping Spike, Spike comforting Dru. Darla fighting with Spike, leaving him to fend for Drusilla. Nightmares that came true. Tea and cakes with Dru's mother, dead flowers, graves, blood, death, holy water, near death. Drinking blood, fucking Angel, Spike consoling her. Spike making love to her, Spike cleaning her wounds, Spike carrying her out of Prague. Spike leaving her, leaving her for the Slayer, even though he didn't know it yet. Spike being played, dark, shadowing man wishing for her Daddy's and the mean Slayer's death. He's using Spike, wants to kill Spike too. Cordelia flew back against the wall, tears readily streaming down her face. Angel looked at her worriedly.
"Sweetie." Angel said, reaching down to help her up.
Cordelia backed away and stood up on her own. She stared at Angel, her eyes filled with over a century of horror. She reached toward Drusilla and pulled the blind fold off of Drusilla. She bent over and stroked the vampire's hair back so it wasn't in her eyes anymore. Drusilla seemed to be as shaken by the experience and Cordy had been. Dru's eyes, too, were filled with sadness, and she simply looked at the floor.
"Cordelia, what's going on?" Angel asked, his voice filled with concern.
"God, you had the nerve to call Spike a monster." She said before realizing what she was saying.
"What did you see? Did you see where Spike is now?" Buffy interrupted.
"I saw everything. And I mean *everything*!" Cordelia spat in Angel's direction.
"Honey." Angel began.
"Just leave me alone. I need to sort through some things. Please, I need to lay down for a little bit. Buffy, would you help me to my room?"
Buffy shrugged at Angel and helped Cordelia up to her room. Lorne just looked at Angel.
"Man, you are going to be in the dog house for weeks." Lorne said, sympathetically.
"Oh, how could I have let her do that. I should have known she would have seen everything." Angel said sadly.
"Why don't you take a walk? Clear your head. I'm sure that's what Cordelia is doing right now. I'm sure it was a little bit of a shock to see what her lover's alter ego is really like. She still loves you. You know that right?" Lorne asked.
"I know, I'm just not sure if she should." Angel responded somberly.
And with that Angel left the room, leaving Lorne to vampire sit.
*****************************
"Cordelia, are you OK?" Buffy asked seriously after she helped the former cheerleader into her bed.
"I'm just shocked. I mean I knew what Angelus was capable of, I just never thought it was to that extreme."
"He was a different person then. You have to keep that in mind. I mean Giles and Wesley know *all* of the gritty details and they still care about Angel. And I know enough to understand why you are so freaked." Buffy said, attempting to comfort her friend.
"It's just, I mean, I totally get why Spike hates Angel so much."
"Yeah, he told me once, a long time ago about their extra curricular activities." Buffy said softly.
"Spike, without a soul, humiliated himself over and over again to save Drusilla from the wrath that was Angelus." Cordelia said.
"Yeah, well I'm sure that's part of the reason I fell in love with him before he went on his soul quest." Buffy responded sadly.
Cordelia then reached over and held Buffy's hand, trying to return the comfort.
"We'll find him. And we will fix him. He'll be our annoying Spike again before you know it." Cordelia said brightly.
"I hope so."
"You just have to be willing to do what you have to do." Cordelia said, almost sounding as if she was possessed.
"What did you mean by that?"
"What?"
Buffy then realized that Cordelia had no recollection of making her last remark. Buffy was beginning to become mightily perturbed by all the cryptic messages flying around.
"So what are we going to do about her royal loonyness?" Buffy asked.
"We have to help her Buffy. I know she's a demon, but she's been through so much pain. If nothing else, we have to put her out of her misery. She's lost her whole family. Darla, Angel, Spike, they all left her in one way or another."
"It's OK Cordy. I'll make sure Dru is well taken care, and I don't mean all dusty like either. You need to lay down and get some rest." Buffy said.
With that Buffy left Cordelia to take a nap. She then went to check on Faith. Maybe, if she was lucky, which Buffy wasn't counting on, Faith would be able to remember where Spike's hid out was.
************************
When Buffy entered the room that Faith was in, she found that the Slayer healing power had been kicked into overdrive. Faith didn't look like she was going to be running a marathon anytime soon, but she looked conscious and she looked like she could talk. Faith and Buffy stared at one another with predatory glances before Buffy sat in the chair next to Faith's bed. Connor and Dawn had patched up all her wounds and were gathering their stuff up to leave.
"B." Faith simply said.
"Faith, been awhile." Buffy coldly replied.
"It's nice to see you never gave up screwing vamps." Faith spat at her.
"Nice to see you still look like trailer trash." Buffy replied.
Connor and Dawn rolled their eyes at one another before they left. Dawn thought about putting a referee in the room with the two Slayers, just in case.
"Well, enough with pleasantries. Thanks for the help." Faith said, breaking the ice.
"Well, I guess it's kind of my fault that you were put in that situation." Buffy replied.
"Five by Five here. So I see the new boyfriend is a little bit nuttier than Angelus was." Faith said nonchalantly
Buffy gave her a 'you have no idea' kind of look before she launched into the twisted, dark, and ugly mess that was her and Spike's relationship.
"That sucks Buff. So are we going to go kick his ass, or are you going to moon over him some more?" Faith said frankly.
"Nice to see you're still sympathetic to other people's needs. You are not kicking anyone's ass, at least not for a few days. And yes I'm going to go kick his ass as soon as I can find him."
"Why didn't you just ask then. Knew you weren't here just to check up on little ol' me." Faith said, fluttering her eye lashes in a mocking fashion.
"I'm guessing warehouse or abandoned factory." Buffy said.
"Definitely warehouse. Outskirts of town. Can't say exactly where though. Know it's on the west end of town. I mean Spikey pretty much kicked the shit out of me before using me as a fountain drink."
Buffy winced at Faith's blunt description. She thanked Faith for all her help and got up to leave. Faith called her, before she made it out the door.
"Hey, if it's any consolation, he is pretty hot, for a vampire that is. Clem and Angel told me about him, sounds like he's a good guy when he's not all possessed by demons." Faith said.
Buffy turned and smiled at Faith. It was the closest thing to a compliment that she had gotten from Faith, in, well, ever. Buffy closed the door to let Faith get some rest. Her thoughts immediately turned to Giles. She was really worried about him, but she also knew that he was tough when he had to be. And she didn't think Spike would do much to him, she wasn't sure why, but she knew he was gunning for her, he really didn't care about the rest of them. It comforted her a little, but there was a little voice in the back of her mind telling her that she had to prepare for what needed to be done. Whatever that meant.