Problems and Solutions--Chapters IV thru VII
Chapter IV
The scoobies had been patrolling together every night for the past week, and still there was no sign of Warren, Andrew, or Johnathan.
"It's a good thing this is Spring Break at school." Dawn quipped on the seventh night. "Or else the principal, and not to mention Mrs. Kroger, would be really not happy with the amount I've been sleeping late lately.
"Oh yeah. An' I bet they'd be real happy with you riskin' your neck, too." Spike replied.
Xander broke in, peeking around the corner.
"Don't look now, guys, but I think we just hit Battlestations."
Buffy quickly whispered orders to her friends.
"Dawn, hurry, climb to that roof and when you get there, do that protection spell Tara gave you.
Giles, Tara, find somewhere safe and start with those spells.
Xand, Willow, Spike, get ready."
As Dawn went to leave, Spike stopped her, holding out his duster.
"Here Niblet. Don't want you to catch a chill standing out in the night air up high like that."
The Key beamed. Spike had never let her wear his duster before. She was happy to have the priviledge as she quickly climbed the fire escape of the building Buffy had indicated.
Giles and Tara snuck around behind another building within eyesight of the small army they were to fight.
After taking a look around the corner herself, the Slayer summed up the situation to the other three fighters.
"Okay, other than 'los tres nerdos,' there's about thirty vamps. Those are the easy ones, since they seem to be all fledglings.
There are also three Fioral demons, a few Polgara, and this one weird-looking guy with long, dark hair."
"Weird looking? How so?" Willow asked, suspicious.
"Well, it looks like his face is made of old leather, and his eyes look really funny." Buffy quickly whispered back.
"Let me see." Was the redhead's reply.
Quickly, she peeked around the corner, looking for the man her best friend had described.
. . . And immediately jumped back, her fears realized.
"It's Rack. He's their new ally." She managed to gasp, causing the other three to stare at her incredulously.
"Ok, you all know what to do. Just treat it like one massive patrol . . . with one exception. Stay as FAR AWAY from Rack as possible. I'm sure you all know enough about him for that to make sense."
Not the best pre-battle pep-talk, but it got the job done.
Spike couldn't help but think about the last speech Buffy had given.
"Not exactly the St. Crispin's Day speech, now is it?"
"We few, we happy few."
"We band of buggered." The vampire muttered to himself, picking up his favorite battle axe and following the Slayer and her friends to take advantage of what little surprising elements they had.
From her vantage point atop an abandoned apartment building, Dawn watched the battle preparations.
What's taking them so long? She wondered to herself.
She had forgotten how long it took for another battle this large to start, and was getting impatient.
After many minutes, she saw the streetlights shining off of her best friend's bleached head as he and three others moved rapidly into the open, weapons swinging, flying, or just plain poking.
Hugging Spike's coat around her a little tighter, the Key watched over her loved ones like a hawk.
The battle had been going on for some time, and Dawn was still watching as it unfolded, second-by-second.
She wasn't bored. A battle, no matter who is watching, can definitely NOT be described as boring; there was simply too much going on for it to be described as boring.
No, Dawn wasn't bored, but what she was feeling had a lot of boredom's traits.
Dawn watched events happen before her eyes, knowing nothing about strategy or fighting. She watched, hoping to be able to keep her loved ones safe through to the end of the battle.
Focusing, she trained her eyes on Xander, making sure he was okay.
Down below, Xander, unaware that he was Dawn's focal point that second, had thrown down the crossbow he had started with at the beginning of the battle. He instead held a super-soaker filled with Holy Water cradled in one arm, with a cross in the other hand. With deadly efficiency, Xander shot the Holy Water in the eyes of any fledglings in his vicinity. If one came too close, Xander shoved the crucifix in its face, so it would back off enough for the super-soaker to be effective.
Xander could handle himself just fine.
Dawn turned her attention to Willow.
Willow, having been out of the hand-to-hand practice for a while, was a little awkward with the stake she used.
Almost as if she were mentally apologising for just being there to ruin their night, Willow clumsily dusted the fledglings Xander had injured before they could recover their sight.
She's a little awkward, but she'll be fine. Was Dawn's verdict as she looked over the battle-strewn asphalt.
Noticing everything on the ground below her, Dawn summed up the enemy's losses so far.
Buffy and Spike had managed to kill the Polgara demons and were making short work of the last two Fiorals. About half of the vampires remained, soon to be cut down to a third.
The Trio of Geeks had long since run away, she remembered, but their magically powerful ally was still there. Although he didn't seem to be doing anything. In fact, Dawn noticed that it looked as though he had done the same type of protection spell on himself that Dawn had done.
She wondered why he wasn't doing anything, but decided to be thankful for small favors.
Without magic to fight, Giles and Tara had taken up weapons and were helping in the physical combat department.
Giles, sword in hand, kicked the nearest fledgling, sending it away so that he could deal with another, easily lopping its head off. He wasn't every strong, but what he lacked in muscle, Giles sure made up for in skill, Dawn noticed. She watched as the watcher parried attacks from the few fledglings he fought, using his free hand and his feet for offensive attacks.
Dawn mused that, not only would she love for her sister and Spike to teach her hand-to-hand defensive moves, but that she would also like for Giles to teach her to at least handle some basic weaponry.
Snapping back into focus, Dawn noticed that Tara had joined Willow in the staking, using a tree branch as a makeshift stake, since she had apparently lost the one she always carried with her.
Noticing that all the demons were now dead, Dawn watched as Buffy and Spike joined in the vampire fight.
The Key watched in awe. They were amazing. Sure the others got the job done with teamwork, but the brunette couldn't help but stare as her sister and her best friend fought the last of the vampires. They had to be exhausted, after fighting the demons, but still, their movements were fluid and graceful.
Dawn realized that, in a battle with so many vampires, Buffy must be using the Slayer sense her older sister had told her about. The Slayer certainly didn't seem to be looking for the next vampire to kill after she had dusted one.
In horror, Dawn saw her sister turn around, stake raised, just as Spike came up behind her.
Time seemed to move in slow motion as she screamed, "Buffy, NO!" only to realize that it was too late. She watched, black duster flapping in the breeze that had just picked up, as her sister stared helplessly into the stormy, confused, blue eyes of her lover as he crumbled to dust.
For Buffy, time stopped. She fell to her knees as the tears began to fall silently down her cheeks and she noticed where they had been fighting the whole time.
The factory. This is the factory. One of the first places he lived here back when I really was trying to kill him. And now, I have, and I didn't even want to! I didn't want to . . . She thought, repeating the last sentence to herself. I didn't want to . . . I didn't want to . . . I didn't want to . . .
Catatonic, Buffy looked at the place where her vampire had stood only seconds before. She didn't move when some of his ashes blew away in the breeze.
Around her, the battle died down. The last vamp had turned to dust, and all that was left of the enemy was Rack.
Rack, although he hadn't done anything the entire battle, was looking smug. Xander and Willow just glowered at him until, laughing, Rack recited a teleportation spell and disappeared.
Looking around at their victory, Xander remarked, "That was fun." He hadn't noticed the Slayer on her knees crying.
Giles, also not noticing, said, "Well, we did kill all the demons and vampires. If everyone is accounted for, I think we should all go home."
But Willow had noticed, and, walking over, asked her friend what was wrong.
Buffy didn't answer.
At the sound of the red head's question, Xander walked over, noticing the dust the Slayer was kneeling in, he knew whose dust it must be. Speechless, for once, all that the "Glorified Bricklayer" could say was, "Schpadoinkel!"
Willow, a little slower, finally saw the dust. Her thoughts were a little more organized than Xander's however, and she asked, "Where's Spike?" as Dawn came screaming and sobbing as she went to hold her sister.
Author's Notes: In my notes for this story, between the very FIRST scene, and just before the battle when they count up how many they're fighting, I only had ONE SENTENCE. "Giles comes back." How do you like the way I made it stretch for 2 and 7/8 chapters?
I've decided this is going to be my fic for all of re-run hell. Just like "Stranger Things Have Happened" was my fic for the No-Spoiler Zone between "Wrecked" and "Gone" (I actually finished that one a few hours before "Gone" aired, and I'm hoping to finish this one before the next ep airs.).
Anyway, thanks for all the reviews so far, and I hope to get back up to speed soon, seeing as how I've been sick since last Wednesday.
I made Spike give his coat to Dawn because, well, it would be a shame to make it be dust like that.
Oh, and, Nocte, that's all the fight you're gonna get, 'cause I'm really bad at blow-by-blow stuff, so I'm making that my included fight scene to satisfy the challenge requirement, ok?
Thanks to Annalore for reminding me that WordPerfect has different html tags than the norm. I've fixed all of the previous chapters to this fic (I've decided to leave my other fics the way they are... it's too much work to fix them.), and in doing so, unfortunately lost the author's notes to the previous chapters. (It has to do with different versions and files of each chapter which were deleted once they were uploaded... long story.)
Oh, and Nos? Guess where I got the coat idea? Yup. You! I read that fic you wrote, and I guess my subconcious reminded me that his coat would dust with him 'cause I had read your fic, and I REALLY didn't want that to happen. Plus, I wanted a reason for Buffy to be jealous of Dawn for a change. :-p
Chapter V
Later that week, the Scooby Gang held a memorial service in the home of the vampire they had grown to . . . not hate.
They had to wait a few days for Buffy to realize that Spike would have wanted her to "go on living" instead of staring off into space, trapped in her own mind. Once she snapped out of it and put on her resolve face, everyone agreed that their ally--and somewhat-friend-deserved some sort of memorial.
Anya had returned the day before, and after hearing of Spike's death and listening tearfully to Xander's "empty hole that I dug" speech, decided to stay with the gang.
"We should say something." Willow broke the silence of the solemn group. "He would've hated to go out knowing no one said anything. He always seemed too hyper for silence. It seems wrong not to say something." The jittery redhead cut herself off when she realized she was babbling.
"Right. Um . . . Buffy, why don't you start, then we'll each say something." Giles suggested as everyone shifted on their feet in the cool of the vampire's tomb.
"No." The Slayer surprised everyone. "Dawn should go first. She-out of all of us-never hated him. It's not right for one of us to speak first."
"Al-Alright . . . Dawn?" Giles turned to the sniffling brunette who had her arms wrapped around her sister.
The Key bravely let go of her sister and stepped forward.
"He never treated me like I was just a kid. He was like a big brother to me. The kind of big brother who, although not really all good, would lay down his life to protect those he loved." She said this, placing a pink rose to her lips and setting it on the ratty cushion of Spike's favorite chair, along with the urn holding as much of the blonde vampire's ashes as the group could collect before the wind blew too much of him away. "I'll miss him as much as I missed Buffy; as much as I still miss Mom." The girl finished, the tears falling again.
Giles spoke next.
"I, for one, will never forget the vampire who was chained in my bathtub. Who would have thought that someone who taunted everyone to distraction could survive in the same town as Buffy for so long? I certainly did not.
I used to think that Spike's capture and chipping by the Initiative was the Powers' way to make him able to serve a higher purpose. Now, I find myself wishing that it could be true, but knowing it can never be." The Watcher respectfully placed a yellow rose with Dawn's on the chair.
"I'll always be grateful," Tara began, "that he punched me in the nose." The blonde witch placed her yellow rose with the others as everyone let out subdued chuckles, then silenced.
Anya spoke. "I liked Spike. He talked to me like I didn't always say the wrong things, 'cause sometimes, he said the wrong things too. That's why I never complained when I found some Burba Weed missing occasionally. I purposely ordered extra for him."
The ex-demon laid her yellow rose on the chair as everyone, in different states of shock, contemplated the first instance they had heard of that Anya hadn't been greedy.
Willow was next. "He always understood everyone. He could see right through them, and knew exactly what needed to be said. He never sugar-coated the truth, just told it like it was. That, and he was always nice to me, even when he was trying to kill me. It was kinda weird at the time, but it was true." Again, the redhead babbled a bit, before setting her rose--another yellow-on the chair.
"I don't know when it happened," Xander began, "but, lately, of all the vampires I've ever met, Spike was the only one I had grown to at least not hate. At most, he was a friend, but he was definitely a great ally. One I'd trust with my life." The construction worker's voice became choked as his yellow bloom joined its mates on the furniture piece.
Now it was Buffy's turn.
Giving her sister a quick hug, the Slayer stepped forward, kissing the crimson rose she held in her hands, carefully avoiding the thorns as she sadly placed it on top of the others with Mr. Pointy, the stake given to her by Kendra, another important person in Buffy's life. Everyone who had met the other Slayer knew how important Mr. Pointy was . . . That Buffy would leave it with Spike's remains spoke volumes.
Quietly, so the others almost had to strain to hear, the petite blonde spoke.
"I never got to tell him I love him."
A few weeks had gone by since the group had gathered in the crypt, and life went on-a little less enthusiastically than before.
Buffy, although not a complete zombie, was noticeably less lively than she had been-even after being ripped out of what she thought was Heaven.
Every night, she would patrol. And, every night, her rounds ended outside the deceased vampire's former home.
She couldn't bring herself to go inside; she feared a breakdown if she did. Instead, she left fresh flowers outside the door once a week. The other six nights, she just sat on the nearest tombstone, silently willing the door to open and the vampire-nay, man-that she loved to come stalking toward her in all his predatory glory and kiss her passionately, saying how much he had missed her.
Some days, she would contemplate begging the witches to find a way to bring him back, but would immediately curtail her train of thought; she couldn't put him through the trauma of coming back seeing everyone still here acting awkward around him-like they still did with her sometimes. No, she wouldn't do that, no matter whether he had been sent to Hell with the many other vampires she had slain, or not.
He had been doing his best to be good. There was a chance that, although he probably wasn't wishing for it, the Powers That Be had decided not to send him to Hell. Buffy also didn't act on her impulses to get him back on the very slim chance that he'd be pulled from the same peaceful place that she had been. And so, the Slayer made her melancholy rounds every night, wishing he might somehow, through some unknown miracle, return to her on his own.
Dawn was in just as bad shape as her sister, although she showed it differently.
The Key knew that Spike's death had been an accident, but she couldn't help resenting the hand that held the stake. Every so often, Dawn would unexpectedly snap, yelling at anyone within range over the smallest of mistakes. Buffy was usually the one who caught the brunt of the teenager's wrath, but no one was immune.
She would not part with the vampire's coat for more than a few hours, either. Dawn, when she was too sad to be angry, would clutch the leather to her, inhaling the familiar, comforting scent of her best friend and protector. She never took the coat to get cleaned, for fear that the smell and comforting already-worn feel of it would go away once the duster was cleaned.
The rest of the gang was a little less subdued, but still grieved in their own ways.
Xander and Anya had agreed to start trying to date again, but were taking it slow, so Anya found herself a place of her own, only seeing her ex-fiancé, almost-husband, at Scooby meetings and their occasional dates. Although they were happy to be seeing each other again, they still missed Spike.
The last time the pair had broken up, Spike had been there. Sure, he was still mostly evil at the time, but he had helped the young man and ex-demon realize what they had together in the time-honored tradition of Making the Guy Jealous. Xander had found the vampire "flirting" with Anya at a party, and, although it wasn't all roses and kittens for the pair, Anya and Xander had stayed faithful to each other ever since. Not even the promises of D'Hoffryn and Arashmahar could keep Anya from Xander anymore.
Willow missed the vampire's insight, wishing she could ask Spike to help her with Tara troubles. The peroxide blonde's usually-harsh truths were just what she needed to help her through her addiction and re-building of her relationship with the blonde witch. No one else knew how to help her overcome the weaknesses and timidity she felt when Tara wasn't around. Spike had known about overcoming weakness-he had done it before too-and would have told the redhead what she needed to hear to get herself back on her feet and with the woman she loved. But Spike wasn't there, so she had to get Tara back on her own.
Tara was proud of Willow's accomplishments so far, but she too missed the vampire that everyone had gotten used to having around.
No matter how slow and careful they took things, everyone still had somewhat-fragile emotions periodically.
No matter how strong they had grown in the past few weeks, however, nothing could have prepared them for the visitor they received one afternoon.
Dawn heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" She called to whomever else was in the house.
When she saw who stood on the other side of the threshold, Dawn screamed.
"No . . . please, Dawn. Don't be afraid . . ." Faith tried to stop the girl's screams. "I don't want to hurt you . . . I'm on parole, and Wesley sent me to tell you all about a prophecy. Please, Dawn . . . please stop screaming." The younger Slayer almost begged as Buffy and Willow came running to the Key's aid.
"Well, you can't really blame her, Faith." Buffy said, crossing her arms and staring coldly at the other Slayer. "The last time she saw you, you were trying to kill me in my living room."
Although Dawn hadn't really been around then, she still remembered the crazed Slayer who had once been her sister's friend. The monks had been very thorough, if a bit rushed.
"I know." Faith confirmed, crestfallen. "I know you can't forgive me or trust me right now, but please know that I am truly sorry for all I've done to you. I won't be offended if you call LA to make sure that I really am here on Wesley's orders. I deserve to not be trusted."
"You deserve a whole lot more sinister punishments than that, but I'll hold off until later so that you can prove to me that you truly are repentant. I'll skip the phone call for now, but if I hear anything that sounds even remotely false, I won't hesitate again. Got it?" Buffy laid down some ground rules before letting the other Slayer come in and sit down.
The rest of the Scoobies were called, and when they arrived, Faith began her explanation.
"Wesley found this prophecy that he originally thought was about Angel, but was a bit confusing.
The undead in love with the Chosen One will shanshu, then give up this gift to save the world.
That's all it said. Not one word about a soul. But then Wesley remembered a conversation he'd had with Giles over the summer.
Giles had remarked-somewhat off-handedly-that a vampire here had been devastated by B's death. At the time, Wes thought nothing of it, but then came across the prophecy." The brunette looked almost shy, twisting her hands as she spoke with confidence she really wasn't feeling.
"Yes, there was a vampire in love with Buffy here in Sunnydale, but I'm afraid the prophecy cannot be about Spike." Giles explained to Faith.
"Spike? You mean that hottie vamp I met in the Bronze two years ago when I . . ." she cut herself off, not wanting to dredge up bad memories.
"You met him then? Wow." Dawn interjected, a little surprised.
"Yeah, I guess so. But what makes you think he can't be the one in the prophecy?" Faith asked.
"Because . . ." Buffy replied sadly, "William is dead."
That same night, there was a lightning storm. Lost in the din of the maelstrom, there was a loud noise in a crypt in a cemetary.
Leaving a dent--and what looked like a black police outline-in the concrete, a dazed and naked William the Bloody surveyed his familiar surroundings.
Author's Notes: Finally you all get another chapter! I tried to get it sooner, but before I wrote the memorial, I wanted to make sure I had it perfect in my head, 'cause I knew it was gonna make even me cry if I couldn't write it in one shot. I was surprised when it made my sister cry though. You all review and let me know what you think. There's a lot more surprises coming along, so don't stop reading yet! Thanks to all the people who've reviewed so far. You're the greatest. And, hey Nocte, how do you like it so far:)
btw, the colors of the roses are significant. Crimson is love, yellow is friendship, and I didn't know the color for sisterly/brotherly love, so I just chose pink.
Chapter VI
A few weeks went by, and Buffy and the Scoobies had gradually begun to trust the brunette Slayer again. Faith had been on her best behavior the whole time, and, to everyone around her, actually seemed as profusely sorry for her misdeeds as she professed.
Everyone was taking a break from research; they wanted to know why the prophecy hadn't been found before the death of the vampire it was supposedly about.
Someone had suggested that Faith and Buffy spar in the training room, and, one-by-one, the others came back-bored by the front of the store's activities-to watch. The only one left was Anya; she felt so bad about leaving the money for so long that she wouldn't let it out of her sight.
"Welcome to the Magic Box," she cheerfully called as the doorbell rang. "How can I . . . help . . . you?" She stuttered when she recognized who had walked into the shop.
"Oh. Hello." she said, once she got back her power of speech. "Long time no see."
"Yeah." The person spoke. "Giles or Buffy around?"
"In back with the others." Anya answered.
"Thanks." The familiar figure walked toward the training room in the back, opening the door, a mysterious-looking box underneath his arm.
In the back, Giles and Buffy were giving Faith some pointers on technique; she was severely out of practice since she couldn't go all-out with the other inmates during her imprisonment.
"That's it, Faith. Now, keep your guard up." Giles remarked as Buffy found a weakness in the other Slayer's defenses.
The other people in the room were mesmerized by the Slayers' duel.
Xander and Willow winced whenever either girl got hit particularly hard; they usually ended up wincing for Faith, since Buffy was decidedly more advanced and had less trouble with defense.
Tara and Dawn just stared. Tara had never seen two people who fought so well; she was usually chanting for her life while the others fought. Although she didn't really know that much about physical fighting, she could tell they were both very advanced in their skills. The witch just had a little trouble figuring out just how much better Buffy was.
Dawn had only seen one thing more mesmerizing than her sister and Faith fighting each other: her sister and Spike fighting anyone else.
Faith's lack of skill made Dawn appreciate Buffy and Spike's true "choreography" for the dance that it was. Sure, the two Slayers were good together, but Buffy and the vampire were better. Dawn was saddened to think she'd never again see the flowing ballet of virtuosos that was Spike and Buffy's deadly masterpiece.
No one noticed, at first, that the door had opened, admitting someone none of the gang had seen in a long time. No one, that is, until Buffy happened to face the door, accidentally dropping her guard when she noticed the extra body in the room.
"Oz! She cried, as Faith took advantage of the blonde's distraction, knocking her to the mat with a well-placed side kick.
Once everyone had gathered at the shop's research table again, the wayward werewolf explained his presence, but not before asking a question.
"Weren't you in a coma?" he asked, turning to Faith.
"Yeah. Woke up a couple years ago, tried to kill Buffy, saw Angel, turned myself in, got parolled, came here on Wesley's former-watcher business." was the straight-forward answer.
"Ah."
Willow interrupted. "Yeah . . . Um, so, what brings you back to good old Sunnydale, Oz?"
"Well," the young man began, preparing to speak more than he had the whole time he had lived in Sunnydale. "Me and some of the guys I travel with saw this in the house we were staying in." He began to open the box he had been carrying. "Usually, we'd pass by and think nothing of it, but one day, I walked by and felt this incredible surge of power. I came here, 'cause Giles is the only one I know who knows about mystical stuff."
The young man finished, revealing a statue shaped like a puffer fish, spines and all.
Giles took one look, and his eyes went wide.
"Dear Lord! It's Braken's Puffer! It's one of the rarest mystical items in the world! And here it was, in Oz's possession the hole time! Intriguing!"
"One of the rarest?" Buffy asked. "How rarest? Like Freyja's Strand rarest, or a little less rare?"
"Yes, like Freyja's Strand." The Watcher absentmindedly answered, cleaning his glasses.
Then, he realized that his Slayer had said something that wasn't cloaked in blonde ignorance.
"How do you know about Freyja's Strand, Buffy?"
"I was reasearching a few months ago, and I saw a picture in one of the books. It looked pretty, so I read up on it." was the simple explanation.
Extatic that Buffy had actually chosen to learn something mystical, Giles asked, "And what did you learn?"
"Just that it has powers that allow vampires to see their reflections and to put a mass in thrall." she answered. "Well, that, and the fact that it was lost when two vamps took it in the '40s from Skrymir, it's long-time guardian."
Giles smiled, the picture of fatherly pride. "Yes. Two vampires did take it. In fact, you know both of them." he teased, reaching to a drawer under the counter.
He pulled out a box, opening it up and showing it to Buffy.
"Last year, before the battle with Glory, Spike gave this to me for safe keeping. It turns out that Drusilla wanted it back, but he'd seen how she could be even more dangerous than usual with it." Sighing, the older man continued.
"I had hoped to give it back to him as a sign that we trusted him enough to not use its more sinister powers, but I wanted to do it at a time that we all had come to trust him.
That time came shortly before the battle with Rack, but now he is not here to receive it. I think that you should have it, Buffy." he said, handing the box to her. "Her in the shop, any vampire can get to it, while, if kept in your possession, only two can, and one, as we all know, is unable to.
Buffy accepted the box, tears coming to her eyes, but not falling.
"Oh, Giles! Thank you." she said, giving her surrogate father a heart-felt hug.
"Ok, now that we've established that this Puffer statue is really rare," Xander interrupted, getting everyone back on track. "What does it do?"
"No one knows for certain." Anya interjected, "Not even someone as old as I am. The only thing known about it is that, once it is activated, if the right person touches it, it will change their nature somehow. And from the power surge you felt, Oz, I'd say it's been activated. I wonder who the person is." she finished enthusiastically.
"Change their nature how?" Willow asked.
"Don't know." was the answer. "The only thing I know is that it changes their nature."
"Yes. Well, Anya, thank you. You know more about it than I did. Thank you for filling us in." Giles stuttered, cleaning his glasses again.
"No problem." was the answer.
For the first time in 122 years, he was sick to his stomach. He couldn't even look at the bag of blood he was holding. Something was wrong.
It had been two weeks since he had fallen onto the crypt floor and he hadn't been able to move much farther than to his bed in the lower level since.
"Bloody Hell!" he grumbled to himself, turning to the demon who had brought him the blood. Thank goodness he hadn't heard of my death yet. Spike mused to himself before speaking.
"Can you get me a flowering onion and some buffalo wings from the Bronze? I'm not really in the mood for blood right now."
"Not a problem, pal. I'll be back later tonight. I'll have to sneak them away somehow so no one gets freaked and asks questions."
"Whatever." Spike answered, throwing the blood in his mini-fridge as the demon walked out through the sewers.
Two weeks later, Spike still got sick at the sight of the blood in his fridge. And yet, whenever he ate human food, he felt strangely satisfied by it.
One morning, William the Bloody bolted out of what had promised to be a nice day's sleep, gasping and clutching his chest.
He didn't notice the change for a few minutes; he had to catch his breath.
Wait a minute. He thought to himself. I'm breathing.
Then he felt it: the subtle thumping underneath the hand clutching his chest.
"Bloody Hell!" he said aloud. "I have a sodding heartbeat!"
The last month had gone pretty uneventfully for the Scooby Gang.
They had tried to figure out who Bracken's Puffer was meant to change by allowing each customer to touch it.
Sure, they had cloaked their attempts in a sort of "contest," make the statue do something and get a prize, or something like that.
So far, no one turned out to be the person, although they did give those who tried a free candle with their purchase since they knew it would be unfair to not give anyone anything unless they made the statue react.
The gang was sitting in the Summers' living room after a long day of research when they heard a knock at the door.
"Oz, would you get that, please?" Buffy asked the closest person to the door.
"Sure." the werewolf answered, getting up to do just that.
Oz opened the door, looking to see who was outside.
When he saw, the young man's eyes widened imperceptively.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" he asked the newcomer.
The person, standing in the afternoon sunlight, heard the double entendre in the question.
"Yeah. Haven't been for a month though." was the double-answer.
"Oz? Who is it?" Buffy called from the living room.
Oz stepped aside, letting the visitor in.
When the newcomer stepped into view from the living room doorway, everyone stared.
"Hello kiddies. Looks like the Big Bad is back!" Spike said.
Author's Notes:
I made up Bracken's Puffer, and all it's qualities.
Freyja's Strand is a mystical object talked about in Spike & Dru: Pretty Maids all in a Row. My sister is reading the novel, and I just HAD to include the strand, even though I don't know what actually happened with Skrymir and stuff. This is like a sort of AU to the book... I just assumed that they got it from Skrymir. So, in case you've read the whole book, and my version is different, just say it's AU.
Nocte: Yes, you read right. I made it more than a month. (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, you'll find out once the story is finished.) And yeah, I totally understand about the whole "no feedback" thing... I've had to do that myself. :)
Thanks for all the feedback, people! You're the greatest!
Chapter VII
"Spike!" Dawn squealed when she saw her best friend. She ran to give him a hug. When she heard the thumping in his chest, she asked, "Um, Spike? Did you know your heart is beating?"
"Yeah. That's the kicker. Went to sleep this morning, and woke up gasping for air." he began to explain. "Found out I could walk in the sunlight, so I came to find out how it was possible."
A thought popped into the ex-vampire's head.
"How long was I gone?"
Buffy stood as she walked toward him.
"How long have you been back?" She asked.
"A month, a week, and three days."
"Then you were gone thirty days yourself. But we've not seen you for seventy." she said, closing the gap between them and kissing him fervently.
But it was not to last, for, when Spike tried to return the kiss, Buffy broke away abruptly, punching him-just hard enough to hurt-in the nose.
"Why the Hell didn't you come here sooner?"
Meanwhile, the rest of the Scoobies, Faith included, were trying to deal with the sight before them.
Willow just stood, looked at the vampire, pointed and babbled in disbelief, then fainted dead away.
Xander, hearing Dawn's muffled comment about a heartbeat, said, "Looks like Evil Dead is not-so-dead . . . in more ways than one."
Giles was speechless.
Faith said, "Hey! I know him! I know him! Now I know where I heard the name Spike before!" Obviously, Faith had been having trouble putting a face to the name when he was first mentioned by the Scoobies.
Tara just piped up, ever the usually-quiet, clever one. "So Spike," she called. "How's that muscle cramp?"
Buffy didn't get her reply, because Tara made her allusion to the joke she had shared with Spike at the Slayer's 21st birthday party.
"Look, luv . . . Why don't we sit down, and I'll explain everything, including why I haven't been around here lately." Spike quickly placated the blonde firecracker.
"So anyway," he began once everyone was seated and calm. "Here I was, staked. And guess what? I went to Limbo . . . Bloody nice, but kinda weird, place if you ask me. I honestly don't know why you wanted to go back there, Slayer-"
He was interrupted by a chorus of "huh?"s.
"Well, you see, it's like this. Buffy here, she died, right? We all know that . . . But the Powers, they knew that Red here would try to bring her back, them being omnipotent and all that.
Well, she couldn't be brought back from Heaven, only this Limbo place between Heaven and Hellmouth. You did say you thought you were in Heaven, right, luv? Well, it was nice in Limbo . . . just like you described it . . . but it wasn't nearly as nice as they said Heaven was.
Although, they did have "Limbo Night" every Tuesday." Spike couldn't help making a joke.
No one laughed. They were waiting for him to finish . . . a new experience for the now-ex-vampire.
"Well, uh, yeah. So, I'm in Limbo, and, all of a sudden, I'm not anymore. Next thing I know, I'm lying starkers on the crypt floor-which, mind you, left a pretty big dent, not to mention the black police-outline looking thing-and can barely move enough to get downstairs to bed."
He was about to finish his tale, when Buffy interrupted.
"Wait, black police-outline looking thing?" She turned to the original Scoobs, including Faith and Giles. "Does that sound familiar to any of you?"
"Yeah." Xander answered. "It sounds like the same thing we found in the man . . . sion . . ."
"Wow." Willow and Dawn said.
Everyone else was still confused. Giles asked Buffy to clear the air a little.
"Just like when Angel came back after Acathla."
"Ok, now, that's bloody weird." Spike remarked, before finishing his tale.
"Now, where was I? Oh, yes. I haven't been able to get out of bed for the past five-and-a-half weeks.
I've felt Buffy every night, but, by the time I got enough strength to go to the door, she was already gone.
I had to get Clem to do my grocery shopping for me. He was a little skeptical when I wouldn't drink the blood he brought me after three weeks of it, but went along with it when I kept asking for human food.
Then, this morning, I go to have a nice day's rest, and, not more than an hour later, I wake up gasping, with a heartbeat. After that, I found that my strength had returned, and, testing out my sunlight theory, came to you lot for help figuring out just what the Bloody Hell happened to me."
"I know what happened." Faith spoke up.
Everyone looked at her skeptically.
"The vampire in love with the Chosen One will shanshu then give up this gift to save the world. Don't you see? Oh, wait . . . I forgot to explain . . . so, I guess you don't see." She started.
"Well, it goes like this. Wesley has deducted that shanshu either means "die," or it means "live," which could also be translated as "be human." I guess, in this case, it means both translations." Faith looked very proud of herself for beating Giles to an explanation.
"Of course!" Giles exclaimed. "We all just believed it would not come to pass . . . when, in fact, Spike's death was necessary to start the process. But I'm confused as to the second part of the prophecy."
"Aren't we all?" broke in Spike. "There's really a prophecy about me? You sure it's not about the L.A. poof?"
"Yes, Wesley was fairly certain. The prophecy doesn't mention anything about a soul." the brunette Slayer explained.
Everyone digested the information they had absorbed and planned to meet at the Magic Shop the next day for an even more intense research session than the ones they'd been having lately. Buffy told the group that she'd meet them there after her shift at the Palace, and that Dawn would meet them there after school.
Tired and overwhelmed, the reunited Scooby Gang, minus three, went to their various homes and beds.
The next day at the Magic Box, everyone, except for Buffy and Dawn, was waiting for Spike as they pored over various and sundry ancient texts, searching for clues about the prophecy.
When Spike walked in, everyone looked up in annoyance at his tardiness.
"Sorry all . . . not used to gettin' up in the morning. I kinda slept in." was his excuse.
Then, he saw the statue sitting on a lock-able pedestal on the counter.
"Well, I'll be buggered! Is that Bracken's Puffer?!?" he said, running an appreciative hand over the carved mahogany.
"Yeah," Faith answered. "Oz-"
She was interrupted by Spike's surprised scream of pain.
"Ow! The thing bloody bit me!" he said, startling everyone out of their research.
Everyone stared at their long-time ally and friend.
"What?" he asked. "It doesn't usually do that?"
"Um, Spike . . . maybe you should look in a mirror." Willow supplied.
Spike did as suggested, eyes widening in horror when he saw a green, spiny demon face staring back at him.
"Bloody Hell! I'm a Bracken Demon!" he exclaimed. "Uh oh."
"'Uh oh'? That doesn't sound good." Xander said. "What's 'uh oh' mean?"
Spike answered, a bit confused, but even more horrified than before. "I think I'm turning into Dru too . . . I just had some sort of vision."
Anya, ever the cheerful optimist, said, "Well, I guess we know what 'changing their nature' means . . . and who the person was."
"Yeah." Faith said. "And now I know what the prophecy means."
Author's Notes:
Hehe, two chapters in less than 24 hours!
As to the plot . . . How do you like them apples?
Yes, I actually had to go back and count the number of weeks and days I said after Spike died and was brought back . . . You can't expect me to remember everything I write, can you:)
Hey Nocte, how's two changes in the same fic?
Thanks to Sinister Chick Heather Martin, Sass Angel, Nos, Nocte, Isabelle, and everyone else who's reviewed my fics so far . . . you guys are great!