The day of the final battle dawned bright and clear and Buffy, watching the rising dawn from the window of her basement couldn't help but think that the sun seemed tinged with the slightest hint of red, of blood. Close by, Spike rolled over in his sleep and grunted as he woke up. Immediately he looked around to find Buffy and found her staring out the window, arms crossed, an expression of purest meditation on her face and he fell in love with her all over again. It was impossible, looking at her, all of her scars, both emotional and physical mingling with her perfection, not to love her. He cleared his throat, and she turned to him, a slightly dazed look on her face.

"I need to call a meeting, two actually, one with just the Scoobies, and Faith and then one for all the Potentials" Spike cocked his head and examined her,

"Buffy, are you alright?"

"I don't yet, ask me again when we win"

All the makeshift warriors filed from the house on Revello Drive, still trying to digest Buffy's announcement. Spike held back, holding his coat over his head, preparing to run for the bus they had commandeered from the high school, it was the only thing big enough to carry all of them. Spike gathered up an unneeded breath, but a hand on his arm stopped him.

"Buffy, love, what is it?"

"I wanted to thank you"

"For what? You're the one that came up with this plan, bloody brilliant plan at that." Buffy shook her head a little, eager to make her point, eager to make him see.

"Not that, Spike, without you these last few days I don't know how I could've made it, I wanted to thank you for being there for me when I needed you"

"Buffy, pet, I've always been there, even when you didn't need me, and I always will, you don't need to thank me for that."

"I don't want you to think you have to be my bodyguard" Spike shook his head, grinning slyly.

"I'm not, I'm like your, I guess you could say, I'm your guardian angel" Buffy laughed,

"Yeah, the guardian angel of pissing me off" Spike's laugh mingled in with hers and Buffy marveled at the sound of it, these two battle weary warriors sharing a moment of mirth. Spike's expression sobered and he looked at Buffy, suddenly serious.

"Buffy, I just want you to know that I love you, I know I've said it enough but I don't know if you really understand it"

"I don't know if I can understand it, Spike, I mean, it's me"

"I know, Buffy, that's why you have to understand." He shook his head,

"That's beside the point though, I just want you to know that if anything happens today, I won't be giving anything up, won't be sacrificing anything, I'll be protecting you." Buffy's forehead creased in confusion.

"Spike, what are you talking about?" The bleached blonde vampire just stared at her, his eternal cocky smile permanently affixed to his face. He swooped in low and brushed his lips ever so softly against Buffy's. A chill ran down her spine, not from the cold of his lips but of the unspoken finality of every moment they shared. She wanted his lips against hers forever but there was some sort of barrier between them, some sort of promise between Life and Death that was blocking the way. He pulled away, the smile still on his face, although slightly mellowed with sorrow.

"I just have a feeling"

Buffy gathered her troops around her and handed out their instructions, their death sentences. They split up to go their separate ways, and Buffy was left with Willow, Giles and Xander, the core group, the Fantastic Four as Xander had once called them. She stared at her oldest friends and wondered how she could have ever considered abandoning them for the past. She loved them, loved them all, for always, no matter what happened, she couldn't help herself, they had been through too much not to. They exchanged jokes like they usually did before a big battle, but Buffy felt hollow inside, there would be death today, much death, perhaps even her own final death, but she was ready, enough practicing, she was ready for the final curtain. Like Spike had said, she wasn't sacrificing anything, she was protecting the world. One by one her friends moved off to their respective positions, preparing themselves for the imminent death, whether theirs or the enemies, she didn't know if they knew, she didn't, but she did know that they didn't care. She knew better then anyone that at the end, nothing mattered anymore, only that you did right and these people were doing the ultimate right, they were saving the world, again. Entering the basement room where the seal was once again unearthed, Buffy passed Spike, he gave her hand one final squeeze, one final burst of strength and she was ready. She, Faith and the Potentials opened the seal with their potent blood and one by one filed down into the underground cavern the open seal revealed. Buffy took her place among her warriors, her friends, she was ready.

Willow's spell had worked; the aura of strength surrounding the various Slayers locked in a death duel was almost a living thing, moving, guiding the movements of the new Slayers. As Buffy surveyed the multitude of mini battles around her, trying to find somewhere to jump in, she heard a pain choked voice scream her name, his voice scream her name. Buffy rushed to the source of the voice, the ground trembling under her feet, large chunks of the cavern falling down around her head. As she ran towards him, a large ray of concentrated sunlight shone off the large amulet he wore and like a giant searchlight designed to seek out evil and destroy it, it swept the cavern, dusting thousands of Turok- Hans at a time, destroying more in two seconds then Buffy and her band of Slayers had destroyed throughout the whole battle. She finally reached Spike's side, she could hear Faith's voice in the far background, ordering everyone out but she couldn't move, she was transfixed by the sight of Spike, not William, Spike, her Spike in the sunlight. He had an amazed expression on his face as if he were viewing heaven, with a jolt; she realized it was the look he wore when he was looking at her.

"I can feel it Buffy" he said, the tears began to gather and fall down Buffy's cheeks, this was it.

"What?" she asked, he turned to her, expression still locked in amazement.

"My soul, it's really there." He winced and Buffy's heart gave a twinge. "Kind of stings" He closed his eyes and she realized what he was doing, he was steeling himself to give her up.

"Go on, then" Buffy was frantic; she couldn't lose him, not again, not after all this time.

"No, no, you've done enough, you could still. . ." Spike's popped open and he stared at her.

"No, you've beat them back, it's for me to do the clean-up" From the mouth of the cavern, Faith called down;

"Buffy, come on" before rushing off. Buffy couldn't move, her legs seemingly glued to the constantly shifting and moving ground.

"Gotta move, lamb, I think it's safe to say school's out for bloody summer"

"Spike!" Buffy said, the worry and panic all too clear in her voice.

"I mean it, I gotta do this" He closed his hands once more and put out a hand in the classic imitation of a child's 'leave-me-alone' gesture. Slowly, Buffy threaded her fingers through his. The air around their clasped hands crackled with electricity and their intertwined hands suddenly caught fire. Spike's grip on her tightened, almost subconsciously clinging to her for support. His eyes opened and he stared down at their hands for a moment, then turned his wide eyes to Buffy and she understood, this was his payment. This was his way of repaying his debt his vampiric self had inflicted on the human race. It didn't matter that he wasn't that man anymore, he would always think of himself as that bloody and merciless butcher until he had repaid his debt, until he was cleansed. If she dragged him out of there at that instant, he would never forgive her, she could do it, certainly and wanted to, more then she ever wanted anything in her life. She wanted to be able to wake up every morning with him lying next to her, she wanted to share her jokes and her disappointments with him, she wanted to love him. So do it, an interior voice said.

"I love you" she said softly, tears glittering in her eyes. Somewhere deep in the cerulean depths of Spike's own, something clicked into place, the thing that had been missing since the first time she had met him. He was complete; she realized with sudden warmth spreading through her, he was the man he always wanted to be. All of her past betrayals forgotten, she was forgiven. He was perfect, a true guardian angel now, as he had always been for her, no longer flawed, no longer broken, he was magically healed, he was hers forever, no matter what came, he was hers and she was his, as she always had been.

A.N: Alright there you go, that's it. The end, if that ending wasn't exactly what you were hoping for, tough noogies. I couldn't bear to actually write Spike's death but I couldn't think of anything else that would fit in with the rest of the story. Tell me what you think, let me know if this story was any good. Thanks for sticking with me this whole time, ciao.