Now, don't you all feel special? Two chapters in the space of 24 hours. Why am I being so nice to all you, my readers? It's because I'm home sick.
Disclaimer- I own none of the foods or catchphrases here. Or the shows...or the characters...or...
Chapter 4- Painful Phrophicies
"What room was Spike in Buffy?" Willow asked as she ran up the stairs ahead of everyone else.
"I don't remember. I think it was, like, 304." Buffy replied hurrying up behind her. She turned to the gang that was just staring at them. "Well?"
There was a mad rush to get up the stairs. Buffy found herself next to Angel on the way up.
"Any clue on what might be wrong?" she asked him.
"I have a few ideas." he replied grimly.
"Care to share?"
"Not really."
Buffy sighed inwardly. No amount of time could change the fact that she and Angel were still attracted to eachother at somepoints, but it was times like this, when he was being the biggest asshole in the world, that she just really wanted to stake him. She closed her mind off of said thoughts and tried to focus on the task at hand as she reached the room she had been in only minuites ago.
Walking inot it, she saw Spike lieing spread-eagle on the bed. Willow Rosenburg, lovingly referred to as the most powerful Wiccan in the Western Hemisphere, was sitting next to him. She moved over to make room for Buffy as she approched her. "Any clue on what happened?" she asked Willow.
"No. I came in here, and he was like this."
"Well, at least we don't need to see if he's dead." Xander joked. Everyone stared at him. "What?"he exclaimed.
"Check for a pulse." angel said wuietly."
"What for?" Glies asked. "Spike is a Vampire. He won't have one."
"Just do it, please Buffy."
She rolled her eyes, but did it anyways. Placing her fingers on his neck, she held theme there for a few seconds. "Nothing." she told them all.
"You're not taking it the right way Buff." Willow said.
"Then it's up to you Dr. Willow." Buffy joked with her.
Willow took his wrist in the palm of her own and gently pressed down on it with the other. Within a few seconds, her eyes widened with shock.
"What is it?" Buffy asked anxiously.
"Spike. He's. . . alive."
"But, that's not possible." Dawn said. "He's a Vampire."
"The Shanshu Prophecy." Gunn said entering the room.
"The who? Is this some new brand of shoes that I haven't heard about yet?" Buffy, asked, seriously confused.
"Charles is right. It looks as though the Shanshu Prophecy has come to pass. On Spike no less." Giles said.
"Was this prophecy not about Angel?" Illyria asked.
Giles took off his glasses and started to polish them as he explained the prophecy to the room."Well, the prophecy only stated 'a Vampire with a soul'. It never actually named Angel specifically as to the reciepent of it. Originally, we did al think that it was Angel, seeing as how he was the only Vampire with a soul in this dimension, and, quite possibly, all of them."
"And then Spike comes along and screws up the whole entire thing." Xander said.
"To put it bluntly, yes. That is exactly what happened. Now, no one is, or was really sure over who the prophecy is pretaining to anymore."
"Ummm...That's not nessicarly true." Cordy said. Everyone turned to look at her as she spoke her piece. "Once I died, I became a full-time Power-That-Be. As one of them, I had full access to all the prophicies, and not just the 10 year-old's book report version either. That meant that I could learn about who the phrophices were about."
"So, you knew this was going to happen?" Angel asked her.
"I did, before I came back. Then, all of those memories and things I used to knew flew out the window."
"Well, that sucks." Xander said.
"No kidding." Buffy said. She turned back to Giles. "So, what did these shoes say about the Vampire with a Soul?"
"Shanhu, Buffy." Willow corrected her.
"Whatever Will. You got a better mind than me for that kind of stuff."
"It...well, it stated that after the final apoclypse, they would become mortal again in return for all the good they did in the world." Giles explained.
"Then how come Spike is human?" Xander wanted to know.
"He sacrificed himself to save the world Xander. If that doesn't count as good, I don't know what does." Andrew said.
"Angel did too guys. More than Spike proably ever did. He has his soul longer too. If anything, Angel sould be the one on the recieving end of this whole thing, not Spike. What makes him so special?"
"There is another prophecy that pertains to the Shanshu prophecy as well." Giles said.
"Another prophecy? What is it about?" Illyria asked.
"It's called the, uh, Ruesela prophecy." Giles said.
"Ruesela? Never heard of it." Angel said.
"I'm not suprised. Most haven't. It's very old, the original predating the written language. It states that the Vampire will procalim his love for the Slayer, she will do likewise, and then the Vampire will die. Although, that still doesn't help very much considering this happened to both of you."
"Hello. I'm still alive over here. Or, at least I am for the sake of this converstion." Angel said.
"Yes, but you became Angelus, basically killing Angel in the process. Spike did as well, and ended up dieing in the Hellmouth."
Instantly, Buffy was sent back to the day when Spike gave her his "You're the One" speech. She still remembered most of it word for word.
"Hey, look at me." he said gently, reaching up to touch her cheek softly. "I'm not asking you for anything. WhenI say I love you, it's not because I want you, or because I can't have you. It's not about me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you and I understand with perfect clairity exactly what you are. You're a helll of a woman." he said. Then, he spoke so softly that she almost couldn't hear it, "You're the One, Buffy."
"I don't wanna be the One."
He laughed slightly. "I don't wanna be this good-looking and athletic. We all have crosses to bear." She finally smiled and laughed quietly to herself. "You get some rest now. I'll check in before first light." he said, getting up.
When he was almost at the door, he heard a quiet, "Spike, stay with me?"
He turned around and nodded. Throwing his jacket over the back of a chair, he said, "the mother of all torture-devices, the comfy chair do me fine."
"No, here." she said, moving over slightly. "Will you just, hold me?"
He walked over and sat down on the bed next to her. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he rested his on top of it. They sat like that for the rest of the night, Buffy finally falling asleep as the sun rose.
"Buffy! Buffy!" Giles' voice broke her out of her memory. "Do you agree?"
"I'm sorry. I wasn't listening. Agree on what?" she resonded.
"That these truly painful prophecies have come to pass."
"Oh. That. I'm not really sure."
Willow sighed. "Neither are we."
"If Lorne was here, we could have Cordelia sing for him." Illyria said.
"Or not. Last time that happened, Wolfram and Hart sucked the info right out of his head, and I turned into the big bad." Cordy said.
"We could just as well have Spike sing for him too. And that would be a sight to see." Gunn said, offereing his opinion to the group.
The original Scoobies were seriously lost though. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up for a second here. Who the hell is Lorne, and why are we singing for him?" Buffy demended to know.
"Lorne is the Host." Illyria explained simply, as though that would answer all questions.
"What's a Host?" willow asked.
"Someone who throws a party?" Xander suggested.
"Actually, the Host is a demon who can read people's auras." Andrew explained.
"And you know this how?" Xander asked.
"Watcher training." Andrew replied smugly.
"Andrew." Buffy said.
"What?"
"Shut up."
"No."
"Do you want to keep your body intact?"
"Shutting up."
"Thank you." Buffy daid. She got up and walked over to Giles and Angel. "What now?"
"I guess we wait for him to wake up and feed him." Angel said coldly.
"What? McDonalds?"
"Actually, Angel does have a viable point. We, and Spike, will need to eat, and McDonalds did seem to be the closest thing when we entered Los Angeles." Giles said.
"If it's still standing." Gunn said.
"Pessimistic a bit?" Dawn told him.
"You would be too if you had almost died, became a Vamp even though you hate their guts, current company excluded, one of your friends has died, and an apoclypse has just taken place. I think I've earned the right to be pessimistic if I want to be. And if there is a McDonalds still standing, then I'll run around in a circle like a chicken with it's head cut off."
"You mean a chicken nugget." Andew supplied. His comment made everyone laugh, which lightened the mood in the room considerbly.
"Hey, last time I checked, didn't it saw that it was always open?" Cordy asked.
"I think that's Denny's but you're still close."Gunn said.
"I don't think it mentioned anything about apoclypses though." Dawn said while laughing.
"It;s still there." Conner said, walking into the room holding at least three bags full of McDonalds food. "I come bearing food." he said, holding them up.
"FOOD!" Dawn screamed as she all but launched herself at him to get at it.
"Dawn!" Buffy said sharply. Then, she smiled, which caused her expression toextremely soften. "Save a salad and some fries for me."
"Oh, yeah. Now that's healthy." Willow said sarcastically. "Toss me a burger!"
"And you're yelling at me!"
"Soup for me please." Giles told him.
"No soup."
"Oh dear. I guess I'll suffuce with a Big Mac."
"INCOMING!" Xander yelled as a burger sailed over his head towards Andrew.
A while later, sfter everyone was bust munching on their meal, and the garbage had been tosses, Angel motioned discreetly to Cordy. "Outside." he mouthed to her. She nodded and followed him out of the room.
As soon as they were out in the hallway, and before Angel could say what he wanted to say, Cordy started on one of her apoligizing rants. "Oh Angel! I'm so sorry. I know how much you wanted your humanity back." she told him.
"Cordy, it's fine. I'm fine." he lied to her.
"No, it's not. You deserve it so much more than Spike. Besides, you've been fighting for redemption longer than he ever has."
"Don't I know it." he muttered quietly. Soon, Cordy ran out of things to say, as did angel. They were left in a comfortable silence, broken only by the beating of their hearts.
Wait a second. Our hearts? Angel's doesn't beat..., Cordy thought. She looked up at the ex-Vampire and saw the suprise on her face mirrored bt his. He touched his hand to his left side, not believing what he was feeling. Then, abruptly, he fell over onto the ground with a thump.
"Uh, guys? I think we got a problem here!" Cordy yelled.
Bum-bum-bum. So, hate me now? Just for your info, the next chapter is 11 pages long, handwritten, so it will take a while to put up. Oh! And the two stars up by the name of the second prophecy? That's for down here for the pronuctiation of it.
Rue-sa-la
I hope you enjoyed. And now, for a shameless plug for another one of my stories...
If you haven't read it yet, check out the story entitled "One More". It's bound to keep you laughing out loud until I can get up the next chapter.