Title: Only When You Dream
Author: Xanderschick AKA Sarah
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Joss owns the park; I'm just playing in the sandpit til my hands get dirty.
Rating: M rated action. Children avert your eyes!
Spoilers: BtVS seasons 1-3
Distribution: Take it; just make sure you let me know when you review (hint, hint!).
Plot: After Graduation Angel didn't leave. He's been visiting Buffy every night since then because he can't bear to be away from her. But now she's moved to college and his nightly visits aren't an option anymore, so after a visit to a local demon/warlock he's found a spell that allows him to enter and manipulate his girls dream to his every will. If only I could do that to David Boreanaz. All I can say is: WOW! Anyways, they've been dream 'getting it on' and after a snap decision to get married Angel finally let Buffy in to the little secret that he's still in SunnyD. He proposes that they give up on their miserable lives and dream forever and she agrees. What happens next?
A/N: Yes, I got the whole dream walking idea from AtS S2 but I thought to myself, "Self, wouldn't this be much more fun if it was Buffy instead of the ex-vamp ho?" Answer: "Yup!" After borrowing the fab DVD's off my sister (AKA Xanderschicklet), I've just realised that they have kinda the same thing going on with Isabel in "Roswell" but I didn't know that when I started this.
A/N 2: This chapter is Angels POV. It's prob my shortest chapter yet but I kinda just wanted to get the spell out of the way.
A/N 3: This story is 100 Blondie Bear free so don't even ask. Ever. I mean it.
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Chapter Nine - Eternal Rest
She enters my lair and runs to me. Her arms hold tight around my neck and her kiss is needy. Desperate. I can smell the tears on her. But there's something else. Something dark. It's familiar but I can't quite put my finger on…what the hell!
"Who was it?" I back away and stare her down, my body overcome with shock that the protector of lives, the kindest woman I've met in all my worthless years, could end the life of a human being. But she did. It's all over her.
"I'm leaving. The world needs a slayer." She looks me straight in the eyes, not a sign of regret anywhere on her face.
"Faith." The name slips from my mouth and she nods silently
"I had to."
"I know."
I reach over and pull her into my embrace, her body warm and tense. There's not much I can do about that now but the quicker we get this spell done…
"Are you sure about this" Every part of me hopes that she is. "Once this is done I don't know how to reverse it." She smiles at me, confidence shining through the tears in her tired eyes.
"I've never been so sure of anything."
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My hands glide from bottle to bottle, pouring the contents into the clay bowl. Rose petals, ginseng, a mandrake root, seawater blessed by a warrior, and lavender. I place in a picture of her. It shows her sitting on my bed, unnoticing that I've snuck up to catch her unaware. It's from the photo album she gave me almost two years ago. Beside it I lay another image. The first and only time I've been able to see my face since I was turned. Until she gave me this picture I couldn't even remember what Liam O'Carroll had looked like. Not bad! The prints float for a moment before dissolving in the thick lilac water.
She sits cross-legged on the floor and observes me carefully, reciting the ingredients of the potion. "Are you sure this will work? These ingredients sound like the recipe for the 'soup' I made when I was four."
"This spell is ancient. All these things were available to the Natives. They didn't have a great deal to work with." She shrugs indifferently and begins to tell me the next item on the list. "The blood of the…" Suddenly she stops.
"Ew. The blood of the visionary shall boil and all shall be consumed by a wandering life. What does that mean?"
I reach over to the knife sitting on the edge of the table - the same knife I use for the dream walking spell - and drag it across my palm. I feel no pain. I've been doing this every night for months. This will be the last time.
The blood slowly drips from my palm and into the bowl, causing a light red mist to arise from the strange concoction.
I hold my intact hand out to her and she takes it instinctively, getting up as I gently draw her towards me. She smiles a little. Or at least she does until I hold up the knife.
"Ouch." She fakes pain as her blood runs across her fingertips, falling through the red vapour and into the bowl. I can smell the deep crimson lifeline so strongly. A growl begins to form at the back of my throat but I suppress it and shake my head, trying to let go of the hunger. The haze dissolves and all that's left in the bowl is a clean, clear liquid. I try to walk away but she grabs my arm, watching me intently. She's somehow aware of what I'm feeling. She slowly raises her hand to my face and hesitates a little, unsure of my response. Before I have a chance to protest she drags her finger across my lips, leaving a trail of her blood. I willingly open my mouth and she places her open palm across it. I lick her hand gently, tasting the sweet liquid and I can feel myself fall once again.
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The Crawford Street Mansion, June 1999…She strikes me for the third time and I feel my face involuntarily contort.
All thoughts and reason leave my dying body as she hauls me to her, my lips grazing the skin between her shoulders and her neck.
Where am I? Why is the rhythm pulsing below her smooth skin mesmerizing me so much? Why does she smell so alluring?
I feel the warmth flow through my mouth, across my tongue and down my throat. I fuse my jaw shut tightly and grasp her in my arms. Her body weakens as mine grows stronger and we fall to the floor. Her fading heartbeat sounds but I can't bring myself to stop. All these years, all the agony, the suffering. I never thought she would taste so pure.
Oh god, what have I done!
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I snap back, getting as far away from her as possible before I have the nerve to look at her. She's sitting on the edge of the table, staring at her hand as she enfolds the soft gauze around it.
"Buffy, I…I'm sorry I didn't mean to…"
She glances over at me, the animal trembling in the corner and chuckles a little.
"My bad. I thought you wanted to. You know, what's mine is yours or whatever the saying is." She saunters over to me and takes my damaged hand, turning it over to cover the wound. "It's fine. I don't need a bandage." She ignores me, still tending to my self-inflicted injury. When she's done she reaches up on her toes, kissing me warmly. I relax a little as she leads me towards the desk, eager to finish the spell.
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11:58pm…
"Do I really have to drink this?" she screws up her face in disgust.
I stare at the vial in my hand. Not long now. We're sitting on my bed waiting. The final part of the spell takes place at midnight. The single moment when the dimensions open and the world falls into a new day. This time we won't be falling with it.
She glances at her watch, set to perfection. Mr Gordo sits propped up against the pillow between us, his black beady eyes burning a hole in my head. "I don't think he likes you that much." I look up quickly and catch a slight grin on your face. "Maybe it's because you kept me away from him for so many nights. Either that or because you kicked him out of his own bed."
"He better learn to like me soon or he'll be spending an eternity on the floor." She giggles and checks her watch again.
"One minute. All systems go."
I have to ask one last time. "Are you sure you've thought this through? We don't need to do this. I told you, I'll never leave you. We'll be together forever, no matter what."
"What happens when I die?"
She gazes at me, her face serious yet full of raw emotion. I don't know. I don't know what I'd do when you died.
You open the small bottle that you're holding, sniffing the contents warily. I look at the clock above the bed before taking the lid off mine.
Ten seconds…
You grip my hand and smile at me reassuringly. You raise the potion to your mouth. The clear liquid passes through your lips and I watch you swallow before copying your actions.
Here comes forever.
Midnight…
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Well? We are officially half way through the fic! Chapterwise, that is - nine more chapters to go! I'm not sure if I like this chapter. I might change it. What did you wonderful peeps think? You guys have been great with the reviews! "Mad props" (sorry, been watchin the O.C!) to:
mysticallove, deadbeatsoul, spikestar, pinkyblue-ice, Emo-Dreams, lessthanangelic1, Aayla, REALbluelightsabre, Fobroks21, TheSaver, BloodThirstyGoddess and Angel sumoritos!
There's loads more to come!
Next chapter will be up on Friday. Thanks for reading! X