Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. The characters all belong to their respective studios and creators. I am just borrowing them for my story.
Author's Note: This story is set after the end of season 2 of Roswell (after Tess has already left) and in the beginning of season 6 of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer- after Buffy and Spike have gotten together, but before Willow was addicted to magic and before Willow and Tara broke up. Also, Giles hasn't left yet. Sorry for the confusing time lines, but this worked best for my story.
A/N 2: Wow, it's been a long time since I have worked on this story. As always, real life is too demanding for me to get in a lot of writing time. Plus, most teachers just don't seem to understand the concept that theirs is not your only class, so they shouldn't ask you to read a 400-page novel in two days, for example; at least my teachers don't seem to anyway. Hope that you like it and sorry for the extremely long wait. And before I forget, can I just say how much the Roswell DVD set rocks? I love it! And I'm so happy that they finally released it here, though the music changes are bummers, but other than that it's great! I can't wait until they release the next two seasons. Also, thanks a lot to my wonderful reviewers- you all are wonderful and reading your reviews simply makes my day. Thank you all.
Chapter Fourteen- What Dreams May Come
Buffy Summers looked around and noticed that she was in the middle of what appeared to be a deserted glen, until she noticed the couple sitting on the blanket on the far side of it. She looked more closely and discovered that the couple was Michael and Maria, except that Michael was in his own body. She watched them and heard Maria sigh contentedly. Buffy felt a pang of jealousy at that- she wanted to feel a love like that again. She had briefly felt it with Angel, but that was over before she could even truly relish her happiness with him. She was about to turn away, when she saw something disturbing- Michael appeared to be suffocating Maria. She started to rush forward, when a hand grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"It's not for you to save her," Michael, beside her, said cryptically, "Not now, anyway." Buffy was puzzled for a moment before she realized that it wasn't Michael, but Spike, she was talking to. But why was he in Michael's body in this dream? Especially as Michael was also in Michael's body right on the other side of the clearing?
"But she's-"
Spike cut her off, "This is not up to you. Leave it. You are not meant to interfere now, pet." He smirked at her. "Come on, I have something to show you," and grabbing her hand, he dragged her off.
As they were leaving, Buffy turned back just as Michael bit into Maria and saw the look of pain and loss on the girl's face. A single tear slipped down her cheek for the girl she had just met. She knew she should have stopped it from happening, despite Spike's protests, but she took consolation from the fact that it was just a dream. She resolved then not to let anything happen to Maria in real life, nor to any of the other Roswellians. She was the protector of the innocent after all.
She continued to follow Spike as he led her through the bushes of the glen into a vast expanse of open desert, where an immense battle was taking place. She recognized the Scoobies and the Roswellians fighting side by side against the other group. But what was the other group? They looked human, but Buffy's senses were telling her that there was something off about them, not quite demon, but not really human either. She started to ask Spike about them, when a shot was fired in their direction, from one of the weapons the other group was holding. It appeared to be some kind of laser weapon. Just as she was about to dodge the blast, Spike threw up his (Michael's) hand and the blast disintegrated.
"I've been practicing," he smiled conspiratorially.
Buffy looked at him in confusion. "How did you do that?"
"Oh come on, Slayer, the answer should be obvious to you, with all those slayer insights you've got." As she continued to just stare at him, he said, "Come on now love, use your senses. What do you feel?"
"Well, you don't feel normal, you don't feel either demon or human now, but I thought that was just because of the body switch…" As Spike just shook his head in amusement, she trailed off. "Come to think of it," she continued, expanding her senses once more, "You feel like those others, the ones we're fighting now."
"Bingo, love."
"Well what are you?"
"S'not for me to tell, s'for you to figure out. And you bloody well better hurry up too, as time is running out." With that said, he disappeared, leaving Buffy alone at the edge of the battle.
* * *
Buffy sat up in bed and glanced at the clock. It was nearly three in the morning. She knew there would be no going back to sleep for her, so she decided to go talk to Spike. Maybe he would be able to shed some light on her strange and cryptic dream; after all, he had played a key part in it. She also needed to talk to Giles, but knew that at this hour he was asleep, so it would have to wait until morning. But she could talk to Spike now.
She headed quietly down the stairs and into the living room, where Spike was staying the night on the couch. When she got there, she found him sound asleep. She knew if she woke him up when he was sleeping like that, he wouldn't tell her anything, that is, if he knew anything to tell. Buffy had a suspicion, though, that he did.
'Great,' she thought, 'The one time I actually do need to seriously talk to him, and he's asleep. Figures.' She had the childish urge to stomp her foot, as the dream had left her frustrated and upset and now she was unable to ask Spike about it, but she refrained, knowing it would do her no good. She instead decided to go back out on patrol, to work off some of that frustration. She had already patrolled earlier in the evening, but another sweep wouldn't hurt.
After going back upstairs to get dressed, she headed out. She headed over to one of her favorite cemeteries to patrol, the one where Spike's crypt was, and where there was usually the most demon activity. After searching for a while, she found a nest of seven vampires in a nearby abandoned mausoleum. Deciding she had more than enough energy to take them, she jumped into the fray, immediately taking out two of them. The others jumped up in surprise and quickly moved in for the kill.
One by one, Buffy took them down, until there was just one left. He snarled at her and lunged for her throat. Boy, was that a stupid move. Buffy used the heel of her hand to knock his head back and then quickly staked him before he had time to recover.
She walked out of the mausoleum, feeling suddenly very tired as the adrenaline from the fight left her. Those vamps had taken far more out of her than she had thought they would. Feeling wearier with each passing step, she decided not to make the long walk back to her house and to crash in Spike's crypt instead. After all, it's not as if it would be the first time she had slept there; she had many times, in fact.
Reaching his crypt, she went in and bolted the door behind her. The minute her head hit his pillow, she was out like a light.
* * *
The next morning at Buffy's house:
As Willow, Tara, Dawn and Spike all got up and prepared to go meet the Roswellians back at the Magic Box, as they had arranged the day before, no one could find Buffy.
Walking down the stairs, Willow called to Dawn, "Dawn, have you seen Buffy? Or did you hear her leave earlier?"
"No. Sorry, Willow, I can't find her either," Dawn replied scrambling to eat breakfast before they had to go.
"She probably just went on ahead, Willow. I know this body switching mess was really bothering her and she may have wanted to get a head start on it. I bet she'll be at the Magic Box when we get there," Tara said wrapping her arms around her lover.
"Yeah, you're right, sweetie. She's probably there. We should get going anyway. Come on Dawn and Spike- we're leaving."
The four of them piled into the Summers' SUV and headed off.
* * *
About half an hour later, Buffy woke up from a deep sleep. Looking around at her surroundings, she remembered what had happened last night and the dream she had had. 'I've got to tell Giles,' she thought. 'He'll be able to make something of it.' She then remembered that she was supposed to meet them all at the Magic Box, so she set off.
When she arrived, she noticed the Pod Squad and the Scooby Gang all standing off to one side of the shop, surrounded by another familiar group. The members of the Pod Squad all looked uncomfortable and irritated, as the men in the suits seemed to be 'guarding' them and not allowing them to really move. They seemed to feel threatened (especially because the men were wearing suits and looked very government-type, but Buffy couldn't know that), but they also seemed to be waiting to see how the situation played out, whether or not there was truly cause for nervousness or action. To Buffy's experienced eyes, it looked like they were preparing to defend themselves should the need call for it. She wondered where and why they had been forced to learn that lesson, and she resolved to ask them about it later. The Scoobies all just looked angry.
Buffy looked to Giles in dismay at the intrusion and he could only shrug back hopelessly.
"Well, Ms. Summers, so good of you to finally arrive. We have been waiting for you for a while, so that we could begin. But then as I remember correctly, you always did have a penchant for tardiness," Quentin Travers said, smiling evilly at her.
* * * * * * *
I know I'm bad to stop it there, but well…. Anyway, about the Spike/ Michael thing of dissolving the laser blast. Since one of their powers is to manipulate molecules, I figured that he would probably be able to do that if he figured out how, besides it was a dream. If he couldn't do that, just let me know. Thanks.