Casualties Chapter 4: Old Wounds, a buffy: the vampire slayer fanfic

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Willow, Tara, Xander,
Anya, Giles, Dawn, Spike and all other characters who have appeared in the syndicated series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, together with the names, titles and back story are the sole copyright property of Joss Wheldon, Fox and Mutant Enemy. No copyright infringement was intended in the writing of this fan fiction. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Please contact the author for permission to reproduce this story on any other fan fiction site.

TITLE: Old Wounds

SERIES: Casualties

AUTHOR: Peter J. Frigate

EMAIL: thetwis...gmx.de (thats my 'mostly spam' email, so I might miss your mail, if you want my personal email, just ask me)

FEEDBACK: Yes, please. Public, private, constructive, negative, I don't care. I don't even mind flames.

ARCHIVE/DISTRIBUTION: I post the chapters on the Buffy newsgroup, and usually a bit later on If you want to put my stuff on your page, I'll probably hug and kiss you, but you still have to ask first. I like to keep track of where my things go. In return, I'll offer to mail you any new chapters/stories or corrections.

TIMEFRAME: After the end of Season Six

'PREVIOUSLY ON': After being drained by Willow, Giles is in the hospital's ICU, his body unable to function on it's own. Dawn figured out the reason, Willow took more than the magic, she took Giles'
lifeforce. And she's the only one who can return it. The only problem:
when Willow let go of the magic, a part of her was lost as well. She is currently in a mental institution, being unable to hold any thought for more than a few seconds. Dawn has found a spell to restore her, and convinced her sister to perform it.

SPECIAL REQUEST: This is the first part where I started having (minor)
contradictions and issues with continuity. So if you spot anything that doesn't make sense, or contradicts something said or suggested in the previous parts, please please please let me know. Also, please check the end, there's a few things I put there.

Part 4 - Old Wounds

"Can you run by me again why we have to involve Angel?" Xander asked Dawn, while he played around nervously with a spell ingredient.

"Because this spell will take Buffy out for a good while, at least a few days, and it attracts unwanted attention. We need someone here to protect Buffy's body, someone that can kill a few demons and vampires without breaking too much of a sweat. I couldn't reach Riley, so Angel is our only option." Dawn calmly explained to Xander, knowing he didn't particularily like that part of the plan. "And stop playing with that."

"Why, is it like blessed and cleansed or something?" He didn't stop.

"No, but it's a very ... /personal/ organ of a rogh demon. We need it to make the spell more ... potent." Dawn said, avoiding Xander's eyes.

"You mean it's ... it's a ... oh my god!" He dropped the small object.
"I'm going to have to shrub my hands. Until they bleed." He jumped to his feet, heading towards the kitchen.

Dawn laughed. "Calm down, it's a root. I'm just teasing."

"Just when I stop worrying about Angel being evil, you turn out to have joined the dark side." Xander sat down, breathing heavily.

"You are embarassed now, wait until I tell Anya about it. You won't live that down for weeks." She went back to being serious. "So how are things with you?"

"Better, I think. She hired me to help her fix the magic box." A smile came to his face. "It's not like we are moving in together, but I think it's a first step. And she's the one who made it, so maybe she is considering to forgive me."

Dawn smiled, as her friend kept on talking about his ex fiancé. She was happy that the two of them were trying to patch things up, and also relieved that Xander didn't make too much of a fuss over calling Angel.
She knew that he didn't like the vampire, soul or not, and she was also aware that he didn't feel comfortable with calling in 'outside muscle.
Of course he didn't have any illusions about being able to fight demons or vampires on his own, but having his nose pointed at that fact still wasn't nice.

---

"Are you sure Angel said ten?" Anya paced around the living room of the summers house. "It's twenty past, and I'm getting bored already."

"Angel didn't say anything. Wesley called us back and said that Angel got the call and was on his way." Buffy explained, even though she knew that the vengeance demon didn't really care. "And we can't start until Xander brings over Willow anyways."

"And the Xandman to the rescue!" The aforementioned walked through the front door. "Can someone give me a hand with Willow? She's still in the cab, I brought the baggage first." He dropped the bags near the couch,
then went back outside, Buffy behind him.

A few moments later, they both came back, holding Willow between them,
helping her walk. The young woman looked much paler than usual, and had obvious trouble walking, so they quickly helped her to the couch and settled her down.

"Everything go ok with the doctors?" Buffy asked after Willow was comfortably tucked in on the couch and under a colorful blanket.

"Yeah. They weren't happy, but they didn't really have any pressing reason to keep her there. She isn't violent, and I've assured them that we will have someone watching her 24/7. They gave me all kinds of fancy named medication goodness." His face turned a bit sad, remembering that he had to ask the doctor to write him a list on when and what to give her, hating himself for not being smarter, not being able to even remember the names of the stuff his best friend had to take now.

"She doesn't actually have to take them, Xander. Remember, she will be out cold with Buffy. Their bodies will slow down into hibernation so much that the effects of her current medication will not wear off, just like Buffy won't have to eat or drink while they are out." Dawn explained.

"Right, right, you explained that. Now I feel like a double idiot. Not only can't I remember the names of the stuff, I can't even remember the simple fact that we don't need them."

"It's alright, Xander. And it's a good thing you forgot, we don't want the docs to get suspicious." Buffy tried to cheer her friend up, then taking a quick glance over her shoulder back into the living room,
where Anya talked softly to Willow, gently patting her hand. "I just wish Angel would show up already."

"Peaches ain't coming, luv."

---

"Spike. Get out." Buffy said coldly, while Xander and Dawn stood up and stepped closer to Buffy.

"You might be able to hurt her, but you can't hurt us, and we can stake you." Dawn added, her voice a tiny bit shakey.

"Which will happen in about fifteen seconds." Xander chimed in.

"Calm down. I took care of that little problem. I can't hurt Buffy anymore. And not you buggers either." He said casually while dropping his black duster over a chair. "Angel sent me."

"Angel what?" Buffy had to control herself to stop from screaming.
"There is no way that Angel would ever ..."

"Things change, luv." Spike interrupted her calmly. "I have been with Angel ever since I left. He trusts me to help you, and he can't leave LA right now. Something about a demon army wanting to eat his son.
Since you expected Mister Broody, I take it you stocked up on blood and covered up the windows?"

"This is so not happening. Name one good reason why I shouldn't stake you right here, right now?"

"Giles." Dawn said softly, looking at Buffy in apollogy. "Do we have another choice?"

"The hell we have." Buffy said angrily, then storming out the kitchen.

"Thank you, little bit. Good thing that at least one person here can see reason." Spike said, grinning, and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. "So what's going on that you need big ba ..."

He was interrupted by Dawn grabbing his coat and pinning him to the wall, holding a bread knife to his throat.

"What the bloody ..." He managed to get out, before Dawn moved closer,
pressuring the knife until he started bleeding.

"Listen to me carefully, Spike. Leaving was the right choice. Things here have been bad. We all went through a lot." He coughed and attempted to say something. Her right hand still holding the knife, her left grabbed his chin and squeezed. "Don't you DARE say anything now.
We know what happened, what you did. We all do. We are not your friends. If you weren't the only way we could help Giles, this knife would be a stake, and you'd be nothing but a pile of dust now. But you get mouthy, you bug Buffy, you as much as look at her the wrong way,
and I promise you that we will find another way to save Giles."

She got back up, letting go of the knife. "Go and wait in the basement.
You don't need to be there for the spell, so don't be. We will call you when Buffy is out."

Xander took his arm around her shoulder, stunned by what she just did,
but not complaining, and they both left the kitchen. Spike just stayed on the wall, looking shocked. Things in Sunnydale had changed more than he had expected.

---

"Buffy, are you alright?" Xander asked from the bedroom door into the dark room. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm sorry I just bolted, it was just too much at once"
Buffy said, her voice calmer now. "What happened downstairs? Did you kill Spike?" Was that hope in her voice?

"No, actually, Dawn almost did. She gave him the most scariest speech I have ever heard." He sat down next to his best friend on the bed. "You don't have to see him anymore before the spell, and we will make sure that he is gone by the time you wake up. I'm sure Angel didn't know"
He added softly.

"Makes you wonder what happened in LA for Angel to trust him." There was a bitterness to her voice that surprised even herself. "A question I intend to ask him myself as soon as all of this is done and over."

---

"Are you done with the outer drawing, Anya?" Dawn asked as she spred the herbs over the corners of the center drawing.

"Yes, it all looks very pretty. Even Willow said so. She likes to play with the ..." She interrupted herself as she stepped closer to Dawn.
"Are you crying?"

"No, just some powdered amethyst in my eye." Dawn lied.

"What's wrong Dawnie? I heard some ruckus in the kitchen, but I thought that was just Buffy staking Spike." The blonde woman asked confused.
She hoped that it was nothing she did or said, it was bad enough that sometimes she made Xander cry when she said something about Willow or Giles or Tara that didn't quite fit into human society.

"It's Spike, what else?" Dawn sat down, next to the oblivious Willow,
who played with the furry ending of the blanket. "He was my best friend, Anya. I cared for him, I needed him, I even loved him at times.
He was like a brother to me. How could he do something like that?" She sobbed openly now. "How could he do that and then just come back and run his mouth as if nothing happened?"

"I didn't want to come here." A horse voice come from the doorway.
"Angel told me I had to. I couldn't tell him why I didn't want to come back." He stepped into the light. "Angel had to protect his son, he said I needed to go so Red and Rupert wouldn't die. And it's the only way to act I knew. Somehow I think saying 'sorry' would have been worse."

Looking around the prepared room, he sighed and turned around. "I'll be in the basement, until you need me. When this is over, I will leave and not come back again."

As the sobbing teenager clunged to the vengeance demon, Spike silently walked down the basement stairs, wondering how he managed to screw things up this fast.

--- Addon / Author's notes

I promise I'm almost done with the '100 negative' angle of the story.
But after the end of season six, I deeply felt the need of pointing out how bad things really got, instead of the mushy wishy wash crap that was the beginning of the official season seven. I don't mind working towards a happy ending (not saying that mine will be, I haven't thought that far ahead yet), but I hated the way it was all swept under the rug. Just like after the end of season two, three and five, I think there were issues worth dealing with.

Next point: Do you want to read the 'spirit travel' or whatever that Buffy goes on ? I figure there is quite some mileage there, but I'm not sure it's something people would want to read. Would you rather have me continue the story pretty much 'after the spell' ? I need some input here. I have, of course, my own agenda regarding this, but I have literally no idea what anyone besides me thinks about it.

Next point: Does anyone actually want to read detailed spell descriptions, such as what herbs used, what the words mean and such ? I just skipped it so far, and I don't see a reason to elaborate, but maybe you do. If you do, tell me about it. Please.

Next point: I wouldn't hate some beta's. I would expect more than just spelling/grammar, though.

Next point: Are there any 'live' creative communities ? I'm thinking IRC mostly, but I'd be willing to compromise and install some crap like AIM or whatever is in nowadays. And for that matter, are there any decent communities or archives of GOOD (Buffy) fan fiction ? The only place I know is and that place is a big heap of cow dung.

Next point: I really enjoy reading long, non-focussed (i.e. not centered on a specific pairing or a specific Mary Sue) story lines,
where I can read on for days on end. Any pointers where I can find anything like that ?

Last point: The following is the way I wrote part of this chapter earlier. Later on I thought that it was too extreme and not in-character for Dawn, so I replaced it with the current chapter.
Still, I thought some people might be interested in reading it the way I originally wrote it. I tried to paint the rage Dawn must have felt when she heard and realized that the man she (once) had a crush on, who protected and cared for her during the time Buffy was dead, who was her big brother/best friend for a long time and who she thought deeply loved her sister would attempt something as atrocious as rape. And dear Spike-shippers, let's not kid ourselfs, that's what he tried to do.