Chapter 33: Sun Bright

Disclaimer: No ownership. I'm just perpetually on my knees before the altar of Jossverse. :P.

Rating: I think I'm boring everyone to death repeating the same thing each time. See the first fourteen chapters if you haven't, yet :)

Summary: This is the summary of the last couple of chapters and anything important I thought needed to be added. :D.

AU from the ending of Season 4. Riley has a small talk with Xander about how he's hurt Buffy. Also, Cassandra and Daniel have taken advantage of the situation to do a little study. Giles returns home and is taken care of, until the study is resumed. Spike, however, has been caught in a myriad of dreams, that lead finally to Drusilla appearing with some very cryptic messages.

A/N (Thank-you very much to kim, escudo, and Autumnevening for your reviews! I'm sorry for prolonging the suspense… hopefully you'll find some answers answered in the next few chapters. :D. Escudo: you will have found that I have changed and uploaded every single chapter anew with this new format of having everything non-story related in bold. Hopefully this will clear up your confusion. And thanks for your kind words, Autumnevening. :D. I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Here, I must apologize for the really, really, really large delay. I know… I just keep doing it, don't I? . . It's a bad habit, it is. But now, exams and school have both finished, so I really have no excuses. :P. So promises of quicker writing, and hopefully back to the once-a-week updating: D. Thank you so much for being patient. Thank you too, to Kim, Autumnevening, and Dreylin for commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed it: D. To Dreylin… I'll try to work on the parts that you've asked me to work on, but I'm glad that overall you're enjoying it. Thank you all for reviewing!

Now onto our regularly scheduled chapter! I hope you enjoy. )

8 8 8

Daniel flicked the pages carefully, one by one. The desk lamp made their eyes glow as they huddled together, soberly appraising the words that lay before them. Their eyes periodically widened and narrowed as they perused them, the flickering shadows of the night outside the window adding to the shiver they felt run down their spines.

After what seemed an hour of reading, Cassandra glanced at her watch. "We're only a quarter of the way in… and it's 12:30 already," she lamented.

"Holy…" Daniel stopped himself in time. "But we have school tomorrow!"

Cassandra laughed. "It's Saturday tomorrow, silly."

"Good point," he chuckled back, before his eyes moved back to the book in front of them and his face grew serious again. "God…" he breathed softly.

She swallowed.

"I'm not sure that's the name you're looking for."

8 8 8

The morning dawned bright and sunny… like almost every single morning in Sunnydale. Willow yawned and snuggled closer to Tara.

"Wake me up when classes start," she said sleepily.

The blonde witch smiled, that beautiful, gentle smile that Willow loved so much. "Of course," she replied, and they both closed their eyes again, one drifting off to sleep.

The next time Willow awoke, it was because her body had finally noticed that something was missing. Blinking sleepily, she levered herself up to prop herself on her elbow, and watched her lover frown slightly as her hands smoothed the pages of a thick, sturdy volume from their bookshelf.

"Tara?"

"Oh, sorry!" Tara's head flew up. "I-I… I didn't mean to leave you there by yourself. It's just this book… it was calling me."

"Calling you?" Willow asked inquisitively, sitting up now and hugging her knees. "What do you mean?"

Tara frowned again as she looked down to the words. "It was like… like… when I opened my eyes again, it called me from across the room and I… I n-needed to open it."

"What is it, Tara?"

" 'Divining & Prophecy: Through the Ages Book III'."

"Ooh! That's the one that Giles said he was missing when we went through to try to look for what Daniel and Cassandra told us…"

"Yes," Tara agreed. "But I… I d-don't know how it came to be here. I haven't s-seen it in the bookshelf before."

"Neither have I," their eyes joined. Silently, Willow crawled out of bed and crossed the distance between them. Standing behind Tara, enough so that she could follow the book in front of them, she placed her hands on her shoulders in a gesture of comfort as they read together, the seconds blurring into minutes.

The alarm clock rang.

Jumping out of their startled stasis, Willow was the first to move and silence it. 9 o'clock, half an hour before their first class.

Their eyes met again. "Do you think we should skip?" Willow asked in a hushed whisper.

"M-maybe," Tara answered hesitantly. "I mean… I don't think my next class is t-too important."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but neither is mine," Willow glanced briefly at the clock again. "But let me grab some breakfast for us both, first." Her face brightened. "What do you want?"

"I don't mind," Tara allowed herself a little smile at her girlfriend's sudden perkiness. "W-whatever you want."

She watched as Willow almost skipped out the door, and then moved back to reading, letting the slight crease in her brow shadow her face once again.

8 8 8

"God, the Maths homework she gave us was awful," Dawn moaned as soon as they'd dumped their books in the relative safety of Giles' house. "Did you try it last night? I was trying it before… it'll never be ready by Monday."

Giles was currently still ensconced at the Magic Box, so they'd decided it was safe enough to begin filling Dawn in and researching further. They'd originally planned to meet at Revello, but they'd decided to meet at the library instead to investigate deeper into any other texts that could shed some light on the situation.

"Yeah, it was," Daniel agreed, shuddering at the remembrance. "We did it just before we started reading the book."

Cassandra chuckled. "Oh come on, it wasn't as bad as it usually is."

Dawn snorted. "Yeah, just because you got 97 in the last maths test."

Cassandra opened her mouth, but Daniel cut in again.

"You can't deny it," he laughed. "It was all there in red pen, circled around twice with two underlines beneath it."

"I wasn't going to deny it," she protested. "But…"

"Okay, chill guys," Dawn's face turned sober. "We've got two hours before Giles comes back from the Magic Box, so let's make the most of it. Where's the book you were telling me about?"

At the mention of the book, the humour left their eyes. "Right, it's upstairs. Along with the notes we made."

Dawn chuckled. "You guys took notes?"

They shared a glance, each remembering the night before that had bled into this morning.

8 8 8

The night was cool, and the stars glittered like fierce diamonds in the deep blue sky as he stared up at them. It was beautiful. So far away and yet so close, if he could almost reach out and…

Hesitantly, before he even thought about it, the bleached blonde vampire stretched out a hand, and to his utter astonishment, his suddenly clenched fist came away from the sky with a golden glow. He stared at it in wonder. Slowly, he uncurled his fist and looked…

It was beautiful. So beautiful. His undead heart soared. Hesitantly, slowly, he reached out the other hand and cupped it with both…

That was when it started to hurt.

It started as a tingle, then as a numb ache, before progressively getting hotter. Soon he was clenching his teeth against the pain and his skin began to sizzle. He watched in horror as his hands started writhing convulsively in pain, yet still cupped protectively around the fire. He screamed, and a voice in his mind woke up.

Letgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgoletgo…

"No!" he shouted back. He had no idea why. Every fibre of his being was shrieking at him to release the fire, to throw away the warmth, to surrender the stars. Every instinct in him of self-preservation and self-awareness knew that he had to let go or else the flame would consume him and he would burn until there was nothing left.

Every fibre, every instinct, every voice except for one.

But I've been looking for the sun all my life…

And this is it…

You know it…

You've found the stars…

Spike stayed locked in stasis for another two minutes, an agonizing wait as he watched the stars and the fire in his hands leapt higher and higher until his eyes were lit up and his entire body felt the searing warmth and heat and beauty and pain in equal measure.

It hurts… Oh bloody soddin' hell it hurts…

Hold on, William, it is almost over…

"What's almost over!" he howled out aloud to the night and the moon and the pitiless, beautiful stars.

"The pain."

He whirled around, his body suddenly free of whatever had frozen him. As his eyes fell on her, his mouth formed a perfect O as the light from his hands immediately stopped burning. The flame licked his skin gently now, warming him… filling him with a sense of completeness.

It felt like he was in heaven.

"S… Slayer?"

She stood there, her shampoo-commercial hair tossed in waves down her back, smiling cryptically at him. She toyed with a stake in her right hand, flipping it up and catching it, over and over again.

"Of course," she stepped forwards. "I'm sorry I'm late for patrol."

"No… no problem," he stared at her stunned as she moved into step besides him and they began walking slowly around the cemetery, his hands still glowing with a fire that she seemed oblivious to.

He didn't know how they long they walked, restfully, peacefully, with the occasional good-natured snark and friendly whack. After a while, though, when it seemed they'd combed all the spots that they (usually? He wondered) did, she wrinkled her nose.

"It's quiet tonight. There's nothing demony."

"Like the dead, love," he agreed.

She smiled and whacked him on the shoulder. "That was lame."

"Tell me you weren't thinking the same," he replied, grinning.

"Do you wanna spar?"

A fierce longing suddenly rushed up in him, and he fixed her with a feral smile, his fangs extending and his eyes gleaming golden as he went into gameface. "Always, love."

She smirked back at him. "Let's see if you can take me."

"Ooh, Slayer," he growled. "That was a challenge."

Moving in synchronicity, the two fighters suddenly flew at each other, punching and kicking, flying into the air as they blocked again and again, revelling in the pure joy of it, the pure joy of them. Never had they come up against an enemy with the same fire, the same life and fervour...

Suddenly, he saw an opening and he lunged forwards, bringing her down to the ground and her arms and legs pinned. His fangs flashed down automatically and grazed her skin, and then he was overwhelmed with the intoxicating scent of Slayer blood…

Something in him pulled back, and unconsciously, he switched back to his human guise. Startled green eyes met with blue.

And then the green eyes narrowed, snapping with fury.

Buffy bucked her hips violently and sent him flying over her head. He scrambled up as she flipped herself to her feet and advanced on him.

"What the hell was that?" she hissed.

"I…"

"We were supposed to be just sparring! You could have killed me!"

Spike felt his own anger flare at her 'righteous indignation.' "I'm a vampire, love," he snarled. "I just went against everything I am not to kill you. You should be thanking me. In fact, I'm not sure why I even bothered to…"

"You're a pig, Spike," she moved forwards. "I thought I could trust you, but now…" the stake appeared in her hand again, and her face grew hard. "You're a killer, Spike. And I shoulda done this years ago."

Glittering eyes met again in a contest of wills. Finally, the vampire snapped.

"You know what?" he demanded angrily. "Do it. Bloody just do it."

Buffy stared in shock. That was one response she hadn't anticipated. "What?"

He ground it out for her, slowly, so she got the idea. "End ... my ... torment. Seeing you, every day, everywhere I go, every time I turn around. Take me ... out of a world ... that has you in it!"

He threw off his duster and yanked off his shirt, exposing his marbled chest. "Just kill me!"

Buffy kept staring at him, and then suddenly she lunged. Spike winced as he anticipated the stake, but nothing happened. She froze, and they looked deeply into each others' eyes again. Suddenly, Spike grabbed Buffy by the upper arms and kissed her hungrily.

Neither of them noticed the fire still glowing in his hands fill her as well until they were both glowing as she returned the kiss just as passionately. The stake disappeared from her hand as they lost themselves in each other for the moment…

Just as suddenly as the kiss was initiated, she pulled back with a small cry of dismay, her hand flying to her mouth. He didn't move, frozen to the spot just like he had been before, but his eyes followed her longingly. Already he missed the fire, the beauty…

An eternity of a second…

She stepped forwards again, her face resolute as if she had just come to a decision. Pulling his head down towards her, she kissed him again. Spike moaned and brought his hands up to stroke her back, kissing her cheek and the side of her neck.

"Oh god," Buffy panted. "Spike… I want you."

He buried his face in the side of the neck he'd bitten, nuzzling and licking gently. She moaned again. "Buffy, I love you…"

He pressed another kiss to her now gleaming neck. "God, I love you so much…"

8 8 8

He woke with a gasp.

"Oh no!"

You know it's true.

He gulped. Sucked in unneeded breath.

"God no…" he breathed.

Oh God it's true…

8 8 8

The knock on the door sounded again.

Tiredly, Buffy made her way down the stairs. Joyce was working late at the gallery tonight, and Dawn was still over at Giles'. She peeked through the door briefly, and her face froze into stone.

She yanked the door open.

"What do you want?" she asked coldly.

Riley stood against the night, bags under his eyes and a weariness in his stance. "Hello, Buffy."

"What do you want?" she repeated.

He opened his mouth, and then shivered as a cold gust of wind assaulted him. He attempted a smile. "Can I come in?"

Guardedly, she let the door open fully, and he stepped into the relative warmth of the house, his eyes never leaving her as she went to close the door behind him. They were both concentrating warily on the other so much that they didn't even notice the shadow that slipped in from the street, using his vampiric senses to pick up each and every single word that flowed through the slightly opened window.

"What do you want, Riley? I'm asking this for the last time. If you don't give me an answer I like, then you're out."

He avoided her gaze for a second, before looking up. "I want to make things perfect again."

"Why?"

He stared at her in disbelief.

"Don't do this to me, Buffy," his voice caught in his throat. "Don't do this to me. You know why. I love you."

"Yeah. You love me and you can't even tell if it's me or some other random you're…"

The pain and the hurt and the anger bubbled below the surface. She waited for him to say something. She knew that he felt it. But the insecurity and worry and the loss and betrayal seethed below that, and one look at him made her realize that he was oblivious to it.

"All I'm asking," Riley interrupted as his eyes bored into Buffy's. "Is that you give me another chance."

Spike saw her hesitate.

"Please," he entreated her softly. "I'm only…"

His words were cut off as Buffy leaned in to silence him. Riley's face melted into a smile as he kissed her back, but the vampire wasn't concentrating on his face. He was concentrating on hers, even as he felt his undead heart screaming inside him and his demon surged within. Concentrating on the desperation that clouded her beautiful eyes and the denial in her body as she clung to him.

You don't love him! Spike wanted to scream. You don't and you never will… Why! Why did you take him back!

Somehow, he managed to internalise his rage and pain and grief as he watched them through the window. Then, feeling as if someone had frozen his cold, unbeating heart, he stumbled back to the graveyard and to the deadness of his crypt.

8 8 8

"There," Dan pointed grimly. "Read that there."

Dawn's eyes followed his fingers.

When the starred ones come,

It shall be the sign,

That the paths diverged,

Shall again be entwined

Coalesced into one,

To join the other threads,

One to fulfilment,

And one to dread

The one who brings balance,

The one who knows well,

The other inside,

Who could bring all to hell

Dawn gulped. "God…"

Cassandra nodded soberly. "That's what Daniel said."

8 8 8