"So, uh, Buffy took some time off right in the middle of the apocalypse and it was her decision."
"Well, uh, we all decided."
"Oh yeah, YOU all decided. You sad, sad, ungrateful traitors! Who do you think you are?"
"We're her friends, we just wanted..."
"Oh, that's ballsy of you! You're her friends, and you treat her like this."
"You don't understand."
"Oh, I think I do... Rupert. You used to be the big man, didn't you. The teacher, all full of wisdom. Now, she's surpassed you, and you can't handle it! She has saved your lives again and again. She has died for you, and this is how you thank her?"
-Spike vs Xander, Willow, and Giles
Chapter 18
"You didn't give him his crumpets Miss Edith."
"Enough, Drusilla."
Dru had never been able to make sense of things, not since the bad thing happened. The dark thing. She had been scared, then, but now she knew darkness was her friend. The stars danced in the darkness, her mind always foggy with the force of their glare. Then Miss Edith had started becoming more demanding, stronger than the stars and the whispers of the moon. Miss Edith who was a doll no longer, how pleasant. Now she could hold her own tea cup.
"The birdies won't eat Miss Edith."
"You killed them Drusilla, they can't eat anymore."
"But I can eat." She'd intended to say something else hadn't she? But it'd been so long since the stars and moon quieted. She could hear herself in the emptiness now. How strange. She didn't like it.
"Make him better Miss Edith, make the stars change."
Miss Edith said nothing, just looked at her. A startling pretty girl, a child, but she hadn't been a moment ago. A moment ago she'd been older, stronger. Miss Edith changed just like the stars.
"Some things are constant, Drusilla, some things must happen."
Miss Edith bent down, now an old woman radiating power, and pressed a soft kiss against Spikes brow, easing the pained look on his face. Then she was a child again, clasping Drusillas cold hand tightly. Pulling her down to meet ancient eyes.
"Time to wake up Dru. Can't play with the stars forever. A hundred plus years is more than enough to come to terms with what was done to you."
Drusilla shook her head, face changing an instant before she tried to plunge her fangs into Miss Edith's throat. Miss Edith chuckled and became a doll once more. Her porcelain head shattering as it fell against the hard floor. The sound echoed outward, then inward. Drilling into her mind until everything, everything, was clear again.
Sad eyes, pooling with unshed tears. Looking at him as if he's the only thing holding her to the world, the only thing that can save her. A single tear rolls down a tanned cheek, her voice quavering with the effort it took to hold herself together, to expose this weakness.
"Will you just...hold me?"
Spike could do nothing against such blatant need. Nothing but give in. Her sadness, the heartbreak that sounded too much like ghosts, made him wish, desperately, that he could do something to spare her. To make her life easier, somehow. He took a step towards her, then another, before she changed. Morphed into something, someone else. A little girl, hair the color of gold, and blue-green eyes that were too knowledgeable for the child the thing appeared to be. It hoped off the bed to stand in front of him, its voice echoing and ageless.
"It's nice to see you Spike."
Spike felt himself shift, felt his body spring to move. To attack and demand where the Slayer had gone, what it had done with her. But his body couldn't move, no matter how hard he pushed it. The girl shook her head gently.
"Something's have to happen Spike. You're back, her life. Something's can't be circumvented but some things can."
Spike opened his mouth, not entirely sure what to say but positive that his dry wit and sarcasm would lash at the thing like a whip, but like his body his mouth seemed incapable of moving. Oh even mouthing out words.
"You saw her Spike, that future is still possible even with how hard she'd worked to change it. I waited, for the right time. For when you were, at least, open to the idea of what being with her could mean. I can't do for you what I did for her, too many things would go wrong but I can give you enough to make a difference."
Buffy was back, standing in front of the window with tears streaming down her face. There were no sobs, not choked cries, just that steady stream of tears flowing from eyes that were utterly and completely defeated. He'd seen that look before, knew what it meant. His body struggled, instinctively, to go to her side. He'd, finally, decided she belonged to him. She was his, she'd said so herself, which meant that nothing happened to her without his say so. Slayer wasn't meant to cry, wasn't supposed to twists him into knots like this.
"You won't remember this Spike, it won't even exist as a dream but this only works if you want it to."
"Bugger off bitch." The words were hissed, strained, and no less venomous for it. The thing sighed and stepped closer to Buffy, Spike managed to get his left foot off the ground. Its child hands were reaching out to touch her, his body shuddered. It touched her. Spike exploded forward, crashing into the child thing, carrying it with him as he slammed through the wall on Buffy's right.
"Don't touch her."
The child thing looked at him, smiled, "She's not here." Spike released the creature to look for the slayer that had been haunting him for well over a year now. She was gone, vanished. He felt his face shift, felt his demon rising forward with such fierceness he would have been worried if he weren't so thoroughly enraged.
"Where is she?" The low growl of his words were like ice in the silence. The child thing looked up at him, its blue/green eyes as lenient as tempered steel.
"If you could save her, would you?"
It should have been William, or even Spike himself that answered. Instead it was the demon, the part of him that had turned shy, painful, William into lethal Spike.
"Yes." He'd never heard it so desperate. The child-thing smiled.
"Good, you'd better pay attention to what he has to say."
She vanished before his eyes. Anger welled up inside him, his mouth opening to let out a howl of rage.
"Oi pipe down."
Spike froze, for a moment as trapped as he'd been when under the child-thing's spell.
"Big Bad shook up by one little girl? Can't believe I made it through so many apocalypses."
He turned, inch by torturous inch, until he stood face to face with the intruder. Twin orbs of blue that mirrored his own, that were his own.
"Spike, meet Spike." He wasn't sure what to do when the look-a-like bowed, impishly, at him so he did the only thing he could do. He hit him.
It had been a hell of an experience, running to rescue the Alocer. It had taken a few days, days in which there was little to no time to dwell on Spike. The issue had seemed simple, at first. The Alocer needed a new home, one in which their 'great fire' could continue to burn. Without it they were weak, defenseless. Other demons had managed to find cracks in their defenses, had managed to steal away their flame bit by bit. The obvious solution of just starting another fire would not work, Giles had been quick to inform them all of that. The Alocer's flame came from their homeland, dimensions away. It grew at the rate in which they were born, their deaths recycled into the flame to be cleansed and borne again. Each separate flame taken was a life that would become corrupted before birth and thus would splutter out until the 'Great Flame' was strong enough to purify them again.
After much debate, arguing, and threats of death (mostly between the men) they'd stumbled onto an inspired idea. They spent days digging through the rubble of what had, once, been The Masters lair. The damage had been severe but, with the Patnja's assistance, they had cleared it all out. They had taken the Masters bones and ground them to dust, the Patnja took the dust and spread as far and as wide as they were able. Once everything had been in order Buffy had gone to the Alocer with her solution. There were only two possible entrances to their new home. One in the cemetery and one in the School. Both of which were easily, laughably, defensible.
It had been good to have something to do. Now, though, with the Alocer taken care of Buffy found her thoughts drifting back to the peroxide haired vamp. She had hoped, foolishly, that he'd have come to her by now. She knew it would take him longer, weeks at least, but she ached for him. In a physical sense, sure, but it was more than that. She missed him, both who he was now and who he had been in that other life. Her days, and especially her nights, seemed hollow with his absence.
She went to sleep that night with difficulty, memories of the future, of him just holding her against his cold hard form, making her bed seem too big for any form of comfort. She didn't realize it was a dream until she woke, hands rushing to her throat, wheezing as her body tried to take in more air than it was capable of holding. The image of Angels face hovering, hazily, over her own as her throat seized, lugs gulping for the air she couldn't find. And Spike lying, broken, in the corner.
Hey everyone first let me apologize for my last update. I was kinda in a rush and forgot to put the finishing touches on it. I might go back and fix that later on. Second thank you all for your reviews, its nice to know you guys are waiting for these chapters. As always a round of applause for my beta, Ginar, who is awesome in every way. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. More to come as soon as I finish watching season 2 again T_T
BizarreBard- No worries, Faith will be a'comin' as for how her life will turn out. Well, honestly, i'm not sure yet. She was always a toss up, could go either way. Proved that more than once on the show.
Witch Of Crimson Fire- No worries my friend. I haven't forgotten about my other fanfic. Just waiting for inspiration to strike. Every time I try forcing something out it just...it's horrible. Trust me. I'm rewatching both series to try and get that spark back. I'm so sorry for the long wait but I haven't forgotten, I won't.
Magnusrae- It goes back to the beginning. Every time they lied to each other, kept secrets, bottled it all in, they'd screw themselves over. So my Buffy doesn't lie but...privacy is important. I was impressed with the line myself. Wish i'd come up with it when I was a bit younger.