A/N : I had the idea for this fic quite a while ago but it took some time before I knew exactly how I wanted to write it. Here's hoping it is as popular as some of my other stories have been... Oh, parts of this first chapter are taken from the last ever Angel episode 'Not Fade Away'.
Title : Too Much To Dream
Rating : PG-13
Pairings : Eventually Spike/Buffy, and various others
Summary : AtS/BtVS crossover. Post-Not Fade Away. Life is full of endings and beginnings, but most importantly second chances. When two people find the end of the battle might not be the end of their lives on Earth, how will they take it? And how will it effect those who believe they have loved and lost?
Disclaimer : All recognisable characters belong to Joss Whedon, creator of all things Buffy and Angel. Anyone you don't recognise probably belongs to me!
Chapter 1
Location : Los Angeles, California, USA
Time : May 19th 2004, 21:07
Spike took one last look at the envelope in his hand, hesitating slightly before pushing it firmly into the mailbox. He had a job to do tonight, places to go and demons to kill. It wasn't the first night but it could well be the last. He had to admit, as much as he called Angel a poncy bugger, he'd come up with a plan like no other, and Spike felt great respect for his grand-sire for what he was trying to achieve.
Tonight was the night they took on Wolfram & Hart, the Senior Partners, the biggest bad any of them had ever faced, and live or die it'd be worth it. One point for the good guys would be scored, even if they weren't around to know about it after. No matter if evil struck again the moment after he was dust, Spike was just determined to get his punch in first, and go down like he'd always knew he would, fighting to the last.
Before the big fight went down, Spike had a job to do. He wasn't far from the home of the Fall Brethren, where he must rescue the baby that was sacred to them now but would one day be a sacrifice. If he survived that, he was to meet the rest of the crew in the specified alley, to await the Senior Partners onslaught of pure hell-on-earth type violence...
Location : Los Angeles, California, USA
Time : May 19th 2004, 23:26
"You're supposed to wear the red stuff on the inside, Charlie-boy" Spike told Gunn who was bleeding profusely from several places. Ignoring his own pain, the human asked if the vampires had heard anything from Wesley when suddenly Illyria jumped down from the fence, landing beside Angel.
"Wesley's dead" she stated bluntly as ever, "I'm feeling grief for him, and I can't seem to control it" she told them with that strange tilt of her head, "I wish to do more violence" she almost yelled.
The gang all look towards the mouth of the alley as a great horde of demons come towards them, all clearly ready for a fight.
"Well, wishes just happen to be horses today" Spike commented.
"Among other things" Angel added, taking in the sight of the oncoming attack. Demons of every shape and size, some brandishing weapons, some too vicious in form to need anything extra than what they already possessed.
"Okay" Gunn winced from the pain that ran through his entire body but tried to hide it, "You take the 30,000 on the left...
"You're fading" Illyria interrupted, "You'll last 10 minutes at best"
"Then let's make 'em memorable" he said suddenly finding hidden strength and pulling himself to his feet.
The four unlikely heroes stepped forward together as the rain lashed down all around them, and a dragon screeched overhead.
"In terms of a plan?" Spike yelled over the din to his grand-sire who gritted his teeth and prepared for battle.
"We fight" he said with determination and the bleached blond glanced back at him.
"Bit more specific?" he pressed, and Angel almost smiled when he replied.
"Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon" he said as the group faced their final fight "Let's go to work"
As Angel swung his sword and moved into battle, his team followed, all destined for certain death, but none-the-less determined to fight on to the bitter end.
Location : Los Angeles, California, USA
Time : May 20th 2004, 02:49
The first thing Illyria was aware of was severe pain through the entirety of her body, as she forced open her eyes and stared down at the filthy ground she lay upon. It appeared that her eyes were one of the few things she could move without causing herself to hurt in anymore places that she already did. Still she knew she had to get up, had to fight on, for Wesley's sake if nothing else. He gave his life for this fight and she must get revenge for him...and the others.
The memories of the fight turned her stomach. Violence she was used to, death and destruction were her tools as she ruled the planet full of lesser beings that worshipped at her feet. This had been different, violence against allies, those she had come to feel a certain respect for. Charles Gunn, sliced open by enemy blades till too many vital organs were punctured beyond repair and he fell to the ground, a useless shell. The fearless leader, Angel. He fought valiantly though his death was imminent. The sweep of a demon's weapon about his throat separated head from body and a fine layer of dust covered the battleground. Last to fall had been her white-haired companion. It was strange for Illyria to note that even as the stake was plunged into Spike's heart, the vampire was still smiling, still swinging his fists at anything within his reach until the final moment when he combusted into so many particles of nothingness.
How Illyria had survived she did not know as she pulled herself painfully to her feet. The rain had ceased but the entire world was dark, the alley a sea of demon bodies decorated with different coloured blood and gore. What was she to do now, who was she to fight against and who would be at her side. Her head swam from so many blows and too many thoughts and her hand went to her forehead as she glanced down at the ground.
She got the shock of her life when she saw a body she recognised at her feet, the body of Winifred Burkle, the shell she had possessed, but in the clothes she herself had worn and with the same bright blue eyes and streaked hair.
"This freaking you out too is it pet?" said a familiar voice behind her and with that strange tilt of her head she turned and observed a bleached blond figure kneeling on the ground, "This'd be the real me then" he commented, running a hand through some random dust, "Yet, here I am again, becoming a bit of a habit"
"We are dead" Illyria realised, looking down at the body at her feet and then back at Spike. The pain was gone now, it had left her along with the dizziness she had felt.
"We are dead" she repeated, "and yet we linger still"
"Guess the Powers that Screw-Over had bigger plans for you and me...not the others though" he closed his eyes and looked away from the sight of Gunn's broken body and the spot he'd seen his grande-sire turn to ash.
"We are ghost-like figures, as you once were before" Illyria recalled from Fred's memory bank that this floating figment of herself still possessed, "but for what purpose?" she asked her companion, moving over towards him.
"Dunno, luv" he told her, "Wish I did. S'not like we're much use to them Powers as we are" he demonstrated by passing his hand through the solid fence beside them, "Hey wait a second..." he frowned when he realised his hand was now glowing.
"What is this?" Illyria demanded to know as she realised her own hands were also bathed in a light that was slowly spreading over her entire form as well as that of Spike. There was no time for him to answer the question, as the two became consumed by unburning fire, and their figures disappeared from sight.
Location : Rome, Italy
Time : May 25th 2004, 08:37
Andrew always loved picking up the mail in the morning. Though for the most part it was all for either Dawn or Buffy, he often hoped he might receive a note from one of the Scoobies, as the Slayer and her sister sometimes did. He longed to have such great friends, of course much of his loner status was his own fault for murdering his last companion.
This morning, however, Andrew was in luck. Half way down the stack of mail he found a letter bearing his name. He grinned brightly as he tore open the envelope and found another smaller one inside, along with a note. The second envelope had Buffy's name written upon it in the same flowing handwriting in which the note was scribed.
Andrew gasped as he read the words and tears sprang to his eyes. The words he read were written by Spike, one brave and heroic vampire who stood aside another, as well as two humans and a former-god. They'd taken on the most evil powers in the multiverse and the odds were stacked against them. They did not expect to survive, in fact quite the contrary, but Spike did not have it in him to leave this plane of existence without knowing he'd at least tried to gain Buffy's forgiveness for concealing his return from her.
He asked in his letter that Andrew explain for him, since he wouldn't get the chance. When she understood and had calmed down from the initial anger he knew she would feel, the boy was to give her the enclosed envelope, his very last words to his true love.
"Buffy!" Andrew called in a weak voice down the hall where the woman appeared, looking more than a little flustered.
"What is it Andrew? I'm kinda busy here" the Slayer complained, as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and continually glanced back into the room she'd come from as she waited for an answer, "Come on Andrew, I can't leave the twins for long" she reminded him. When he still didn't answer she sighed going back into the room she'd come from.
When she emerged five minutes later, carrying two small children in a double baby-chair, Andrew was still standing exactly where he had been, one lone tear making a path down his cheek and his mouth opening and closing of it's own accord.
"Andrew?" Buffy frowned slightly now, as she began to worry what was wrong with the boy.
"Hey, what's going on?" Dawn asked as she emerged from her own room, yawning and stretching her arms over her head, making her tank top part company with her pyjama pants, "Oh hey, how are my two favourite nieces" she grinned when she saw the two little girls in their baby seats by the couch.
"They have to be your favourites, Dawnie, they're your only nieces" Buffy rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, causing her sister to respond with an immature stick out of the tongue. Buffy's attention went back to Andrew who remained as still as a statue.
"This is getting real old, real fast" Buffy complained, taking the piece of paper from his hand before he could stop her, " 'Andrew, I don't have much time but I need you to do something for me...' " she read aloud, stopping short when she realised she recognised the hand-writing. Reading further, it all came together and she knew.
"Spike" she gasped his name, making Dawn glance up sharply from the twins to her sister.
"What?" she wanted to know, and both the Summer's girls looked to Andrew for an explanation.
"Maybe we should sit down" he said quietly.
He had an incredible story to tell, a real one this time. He'd kept too many secrets from both Buffy and Spike. It was too late to make up for what he'd concealed from the vampire, but he could make amends with the Slayer, he hoped.
Location : Unknown
Time : Unknown
"What is happening?" Illyria asked as the glow around her body dissipated and she was no longer blinded by light. Spike was standing to her right, just as he had been in the alley, but they were no longer there, "I demand to know, who dares to play these foolish games with me!" she yelled, glancing around at the sheer vastness of the place in which they stood. Miles and miles of empty space, no shape, no solidity, no meaning of time or colour or anything.
"S'not just you, pet" Spike pointed out with a shake of his head, "'Nother pawn in this little game standing right here" he reminded her as he too wondered just what the hell was going on!
"Silence!" a booming voice made the vampire physically jump as it came loud and clear from above, "You will cease this noise or our favour shall be reversed"
"Favour?" Spike frowned, yelling up in the direction where the voice seemed to come from, "What favour's this then?" he was eager to know.
"The greatest favour a person can be offered" said a familiar voice as the figure of a woman stepped out of the white void in front of the pair of new arrivals.
"Tara?" Spike squinted to bring the approaching woman into focus. The figure of the witch smiled softly.
"You earned a gift, Spike" she told him, "You and Illyria both, and if all goes well here, it will be granted to you...before the world even notices you were gone"
To Be Continued...
A/N2 : You're all probably wondering what the hell is going on right now, but many questions will be answered in the next chapter and those following - at least, that's the plan. Illyria is a different character for me, I never wrote her before but I hope she sounds in character so far, along with everyone else. Opinions by way of reviews are always of the good, and hopefully I'll be able to post some more of this storysoon.