Chapter 46
Author's Note: I decided to myself at the beginning of
the week that I would update this story before I went
on Vacation. But then a couple of days ago I sprained
my finger pretty bad so now I'm pretty much typing
mostly with one hand which isn't that easy. But I
still decided I was gonna give you guys something
before I left, no matter how big or small. Right now
it's prolly gonna be the latter because my finger's
killing me. So here it is, and I hope you enjoy what
you have, 'cause that's all I have to give right now.
A/N 2: Thank you so much for everyone who reviewed and
for my lovely beta Chris, also known as Chriosbows. This
chapter is for you guys. 'Cause quite simply, you guys
rock!... Oh! And the decision for Buffy/Spike
is... well, I guess you'll just have to wait and
see. evil grin
A/N 3: And the answers to the last set of Trivia
Questions are... drum roll... more drum
roll...and more dr- just kidding...
1) Devon, 2) Flight of Death,
and 3) Ghost of the Robot. Though sadly
they're not together anymore. But on the bright side,
James is still singing and has a solo album out. Yay!
Previously on Phoenix Child:
Buffy didn?t know what to do. If she moved to escape
then her and Faith were both dead. But if she stayed
then it would probably be better if they were dead. At
least they wouldn?t have to feel the pain of torture.
Buffy didn?t know what the survival rate was for
either option but she knew that neither one was good.
Just as she was about to take a chance and run for it
someone took the Death Eater out from behind, saving
her and Faith.Buffy expected to see the face of
Willow, Xander, or another member of the gang. What
she saw was someone she never expected to see ever
again. With his bleach blonde hair and leather duster,
she would know him anywhere.?Spike? Buffy croaked
out.?No time for questions, Luv? Spike told her,
reaching out his hand. ?We?ve got to go.?
"You're right, it is too soon," Galiana said to Snape.
"How is tomorrow morning for you? Pick me up at
eight."
"Luna!" Harry called, stopping her worried babble. "I
want to go with you."
He blushed a little. So did she.
"Oh," Luna said. "I just... I'll see you then, right?"
"I'll meet you at 4:30 on Saturday outside the Great
Hall," Harry said.
Chapter 46
Mouth agape and staring like a fish was the only thing
Buffy found she could do at a time like this. She was
ready to be killed for the third, and probably last
time, by a Death Eater when instead she found herself
and Faith being rescued by Spike. Normally, this
wouldn't have been a problem. The key word there being
"normally." Spike was supposed to be dead, not barking
out orders and saving people. And not dead as in the
undead dead, but dead as in
a-pile-of-ashes-at-the-bottom-of-the-now-closed-Sunnydale-Hellmouth
dead. But apparently nobody stayed dead anymore.
'It must be the new fad,' Buffy thought as soon as her
brain was able once again to form coherent sentences.
'And I wanted to be original.'
Unfortunately for Buffy, she wasn't able to think of
anything else as Spike grabbed both her and Faith and
rushed down the hall. Still not being fully pulled out
of her shock yet, Buffy's legs didn't hear her brain
shouting at them to run with Spike instead of just
standing there like Andrew out of a comic book store.
Spike was already nearly carrying Faith, but two fully
grown slayers, no matter how small they are, are not
easy to drag to safety when in a hurry and being
chased by who knows how many Death Eaters.
"Bloody hell, Slayer!" Spike shouted at her. "Yes, I'm
alive. But if we don't hurry, then none of us will be."
Buffy's legs finally got the hint and propelled
themselves along side Spike to the nearest, and
safest, exit. Right now really wasn't the time for
twenty questions. No matter how much Buffy wanted to
play that game at the moment, it was going to have to wait until later.
Right now they needed a way out of that building, and fast!
In the front of the building, the Scoobies weren't
faring as bad as Spike and the two senior slayers
were. But they weren't doing much better either. The
only reason the Scoobies weren't expecting their
immediate and cruel deaths was only because of Willow.
Since the Death Eaters were used to only fighting with
wands and always winning fairly quickly, they had no
idea what to do when their strongest opponent didn't
need to use a wand. It didn't help that
they had a shit load of pissed off slayers on their
hands as well. According to them and everything they
had ever learned, the Slayer was meant to be a myth,
not a reality. And the Slayer was only supposed to be
only one girl, not dozens. The fight was definitely
overflowing with girl power, and the Death Eaters
didn't like that one bit... Or maybe that was just
Xander. He really needed to get himself some male
friends and stat. Especially with the pink frilly
apron he had taken to wearing when in the kitchen. As
it was he was turning more into June Cleaver then
Ward. And that was one image he needed to get away
from.
(A/N: My finger's killin' me so I'm skippin' ahead.
Don't worry though, you will learn what happened
straight from the Scoobies mouths.)
A little over two hours later the original Scoobies
were gathered in the middle of Giles' living room, the
junior slayers safely away in their hotel rooms just
down the street. Willow, Xander, Giles, and Buffy were
all situated around the coffee table while Faith slept
upstairs. With Slayer healing, some magics from
Willow, and some healing potions Buffy had "borrowed"
from Hogwarts, Faith was going to be 90 better my
morning, if not even more so. Right now all she needed
was rest. None of the other Scoobies had seen Spike
though. Once he made sure Buffy and Faith were safe at
home he said something about not being able to stay,
and then he left.
"An... And then there was this big hiss-like yell
coming from somewhere inside the building, and then all
the D.E.s grabbed their arms in pain like they had all
gotten paged or something, only without pagers like the
Initiative guys had when we thought they were good and
all got paged at the same time by the big boss and
then the D.E.s just went poof, but not poof like a
vampire poof or poof like in a gay sort of way poof,
'cause that woulda been eww with them and everything,
but poof as in the not there anymore kinda way but not
not there anymore as in the whole Glory fiasco not
there anymore what with all the people in psych ward
but not there anymore as in... I'm babbling again,"
Willow pouted, turning her gaze to settle on Buffy.
"You're supposed to stop me when I do that."
"But it's so cute," Buffy retorted, as if speaking to
a small child. This only made Willow pout even more.
She was trying to seem normal but Willow saw right
through it.
"Alright," Willow said to her, putting on her resolve
face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wr-"
"Uh uh," Willow said, pointing at her face. "See this?
You know what it means. Now on with the explainy.
Pronto."
"Okay. It's just..." Buffy paused for a minute before
looking up from her hands folded on her lap and
continuing. "Spike's alive."
There was a moment of silence until the storm broke
all at once.
"What?"
"Huh? Spike's what?"
"Oh, dear Lord."
"Spike's back?" Willow asked after everyone had
stopped talking at once. And after Giles had finished
cleaning his glasses.
"Yes... and no," Buffy replied, not sure of what their
reactions would be.
"I don't understand," Willow asked. "How can Spike be
back but not?"
"Two very good questions," Giles muttered, snatching a
particular bottle of whiskey from behind one of the
bookshelves.
"Spike's alive," Buffy said again, as if that would
clear everything up.
"So dead boy junior's back," Xander said. "What's the
difference?"
"No," Buffy said exasperatingly. "Spike's alive. He's
alive."
For several moments not a word was said.
"Oh, dear Lord."
T.B.C.
A/N: No Trivia this time, only a question: How many of
you have read 'The Chosen'? If you haven't, then you
really should. It's phenomenal! It's as if Joss
himself were actually writing it.