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Chapter 3: Proving Yourself: Part 1
With the plans made, all there was left to do was wait. And it felt like he was waiting forever. Time seemed to pass so slowly. All he wanted was to be on earth with Buffy, proving that he was telling the truth. And being anywhere but hell. But before he could do that he had to figure out just how exactly he would get out of hell in the first place. It wasn't exactly an easy task. Sure people came and went all the time, but that was only because they had been sent by the Devil himself to cause mayhem. It would be much more difficult for him to get away of his own accord. But he had to figure something out. Because he would be damned if he was going to let anything stop him from meeting Buffy tomorrow.
Buffy was terrified; she knew she could get away easily. The angels were more or less allowed to come and go as they pleased. Although many just stayed within the pearly gates, there were some who liked to be elsewhere sometimes. So she would be ok, she just hadn't given thought to how Spike would get away to meet her. All she could do now was wait and hope.
Spike sat slumped against a wall. He was supposed to meet Buffy today and had yet to think up a way to get away. He had wracked his brain but he just couldn't think of anything. He didn't know what he was going to do. He heard a cruel laugh, almost a cackle coming from behind him. He turned around, grimacing at the sight of Riley coming towards him. Just his luck. He was trying to think of how he could escape the devil for a while, and here he was seeking Spike out. Spike took a few calming breaths before the devil was standing right in front of him. And he thought let the torture begin.
"Listen, you worthless piece of shit, you don't get a free ride here. I know you're worthless, you know you're worthless. But I give the others a chance to prove themselves, I may as well give you one too. Even if it's only because I get rid of your sorry good for nothing ass for a while."
Spike sighed inwardly in relief, he could leave. And he didn't have to stress any longer over how to do so.
He barely suppressed a joyous smile as he continued to listen to Riley's rant,
"So, I'm gonna let you go. Go and cause some real trouble, some real misery. Or at least try. I highly doubt you'll manage, but what the fuck, go ahead and try. You'll be anywhere but here. Just try not to mess up too bad. Oh and just remember, you can't try and not come back. There are rules; you can only stay there so long before you automatically end up back here. So, you can go whenever you want. Just remember you'll be back. Now get out of my sight."
With that he turned on his heel walked a few feet and disappeared. Spike could have jumped for joy. He could leave. And he wasn't going to waste any time in doing so. Now that he was free to go, by the Devil's own words, all he had to do was say where he wanted to be and there he'd be. With a smile, he said quite simply, "To California."
Buffy was sitting on her cloud again. It was where she always went to think and just be alone. She was going to leave soon. She just had to work up the courage to leave first. She heard a throat being cleared softly behind her. She turned to see Joyce.
"Hi," Buffy greeted softly.
"Hello Buffy," Joyce walked a little closer, "Don't you have somewhere to be?"
Buffy smiled slightly, "Yes, I guess I'm just a little bit nervous," she admitted.
"Buffy, you needn't be nervous. If you truly believe that William is innocent and that in helping him you are doing the right thing, then you cannot do anything wrong."
"Thank you," Buffy said.
"You're welcome. Now go, go to him. And help him."
Buffy nodded and stood. She quickly hugged Joyce before walking away. She made her way to the gates of heaven, once there she whispered her destination, "California," and the gates opened. She took a deep breath and stepped through.
Spike looked around the place in which he had found himself. He knew he was somewhere in California. He just couldn't fathom where in California. He decided to look around about and see if he could find out where, see if there was anything that would give him some indication.
Buffy opened her eyes and found herself in the middle of a quiet park. She walked a little taking in the sight. She didn't have to think very hard, she knew exactly where she was. It wasn't a place she had spent very long in. Mostly because she had been killed within a month of arriving there.
Spike wandered down the busy street. He wasn't paying much attention, until he looked up. He came to a sudden pit stop and grumbled to himself, "Bloody great, just take me to the same place where I died."
Buffy wandered around a bit taking in the sights that she never really got to see before. She needed the time to try and calm her nerves. Suddenly, the thoughts in her head consisted of what if she couldn't help Spike? And a whole lot of other what ifs. And none of them were particularly encouraging. But she couldn't put it off forever. They only had so long on earth. And they would have to make the most of it. They were going to have a lot of work to do. So, now she had to hope that Spike had got here. And the only way she could do that was to try and track him. She knew that angels could track other angels on earth. She doubted if that worked between an angel and a fallen angel. But she knew that if Spike was anywhere on earth she could track him. Because he was her best friend, and she could always find him.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. She concentrated on Spike; she didn't have to wait long before she got a feeling in the pit of her stomach. A feeling that told her Spike was there on earth. So she concentrated harder, concentrating on being where he was. She felt herself floating. Being pulled towards something. Not long after, she felt the pull disappear, and she felt like she wasn't floating any longer. She opened her eyes, smiling when she was faced with the back of his bleached blonde head.
He sensed her; he knew that she was there. He turned around slowly. He had never doubted that she would find him. When he was facing her, his face broke out into a huge smile. She came to him and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. It felt wonderful to be near each other again. He had missed her, and she him. When she pulled back from the hug, both still wore huge smiles.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"Welcome to Sunnydale, pet," he said in his deep British accent.
"Sunnydale, isn't that where you-"
"Died?" he interrupted, "yeah."
"That makes two of us then. I ended up in the park in LA where I was killed."
"Oh well, at least we got to see the places again. But we need a plan of action as to what we're going to do now that we're here," he reminded his friend.
"I know, I was thinking before I left. We only have a certain amount of time here; I think it's like 10 earth hours. So we need to make the most of it. But we can be tracked here. We're angels, people can't see us, and Angel can track us, or at least me, all the time. But I know that I can make myself corporeal for a certain length of time. And in that time I can't be tracked. Well at least not as me. God is omniscient, he sees everything, but he can't track me as an angel here. Just another human, who's researching something."
"How did you figure all of this out?" he questioned, a look of awe in his features.
"Joyce," she said simply.
He didn't ask, he would find out what she meant eventually.
"Will I be able to do the same?"
"I would think so. We just do it, the same way we do everything else. Concentrate on being corporeal, it should happen," He nodded, grabbing hold of her hand. They were corporeal to each other at all times, but not to humans. They closed their eyes and concentrated. He didn't know how they would know they were completely corporeal though. That question was answered for him though when something collided with him. His eyes snapped open.
"Sorry man," a young brunette man said.
"No problem," Spike said as he watched the man walk away. He looked at Buffy smiling, it worked.
"Alright Spike," she chirped, "time to go prove yourself."
She took him by the hand and began dragging him down the street.
