Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Three

Sacrifice

New Sunnydale, the world without shrimp - November 2007

"I don't think it's a good idea, Buffy." Giles said more calmly, he had his back to the three wiccans in the room.

"It's not up to you," Willow said. Giles didn't turn around. "Giles, if we want to do this, we can. We don't need you anymore." He went right on staring at Buffy, waiting for her to say something.

Buffy folded her arms. She hated this. Hated the conflict and the fighting and the fierce look on Giles' face that screams disappointment. He was the closest thing she had to a role model, but they were so far past that. She looked down at Spike, whatever the rain had done to him was wearing off, he looked almost undead again. His lips were pinker, and his eyes were open, he was watching them. He looked like he didn't care what they were talking about. "I know it's a bad idea. I know that the chances of it working are slim. I get what Willow and Tara are willing to risk for this. But they've thought about it, Giles. And I trust them."

She looked at Tara, she believed truly that if Tara was willing to go through with this, then it was safe enough. And the other crazy stuff they'd already been subjected to in their lifetime, in her lifetime alone. Maybe now was the time for one of her trademark speeches. "Guys, remember that time Dawn was on the top of that water tower? And that other time when Willow was in hospital and still managed to do a very dangerous spell, and then! I had to kill Angel anyway!? We have been doing questionable and dangerous spells for the past decade, how is this any different?"

Xander looked down at his feet, ashamed. Anya held Jack a little tighter, thinking about the amulet in her pocket. Giles looked back at Buffy seriously. "Think about what you're doing." He said, pointing a finger in Buffy's face. What happened to him? Buffy thought but she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Rupert, come on. Don't be so hard on her." Jenny said, grasping his forearm. He turned back on her.

"I can't do this anymore. No more warnings and background knowledge. I'm done." Giles said with a jab of his wrist as he swept out of the Magic Box. The bell dinging behind him as the door slammed and Jenny's face fell. She wondered where he would go. Whether he would hang around and wait for her, cooling off in the street. Or whether he'd disappear.

"We have to try," Buffy said, looking at Willow and smiling forcefully. "I believe in you Will."

Willow sat on the floor, Tara opposite, the book between them. There were garlands of herbs laying on the floor; Rosemary, Angelica and Elecampane. In little bunches around them. Tara was burning the ends so the smoke could rise around them and create the conduit through which the pieces of soul could be transferred. Spike lay on the floor, his hands on his chest, his eyes closed. If he wasn't so- Spike, then Buffy would've thought he was meditating.

"I am going to recite the incantation now," Willow said calmly, her hands on her knees, her eyes closing. Tara did the same, Jenny watching to see if anything went wrong. Dawn and Buffy were sitting behind Spike, she'd lifted his head into her lap and was stroking his hair. Willow began, "Hecate take these herbs as offerings, take our intentions and make them real, take this talisman as a symbol of the soul that is being transferred." Her fingers slipped under the black cord around her neck, gently lifting the pendant she was using as a talisman over her head and laying it in Tara's outstretched hands. The smoke thickened, as Hecate began to listen to their plea - creating a wall of fog between everybody.

Willow didn't open her eyes. Instead she kept talking, "take these offerings and make use of them. Mighty Hecate, we implore you!" She leaned forward, her hair draping over her legs as she opened her mind's eye and imagined her soul dividing. As Hecate listened, and listened to what was being asked of her, she looked into the future. Was Spike needed? Was his path entwined with the path of the slayer? What was his role in The End? The answer was unclear, so Hecate looked into the past. William Pratt had been an unuseful man. William the Bloody had been a scavenger of blood. Neither were destined to greatness. But the name he had chosen, 'Spike' was proving a challenge to the Goddess. Even without a soul he had aided the slayers, with it he had saved the world. Surely having his soul returned to him, even partly - which was the last resort - would do nothing but good. The Greater Good...

Willow began to shout, cry out in pain, her eyes bloodshot. Her face flush with pulsing blood as her soul began to pull apart. Like the corner of a page ripping from end to end. Her head thrusted upwards, violently revealing streaks of blood running down her face. Tara gasped and broke her eye contact with the talisman. Her hands covered her mouth in horror as she rushed forward to wrap her arms round her girlfriend. She was yelling but Willow couldn't hear it. The smoke began to swirl, the talisman rising as Willow sat upright, throwing Tara aside. Her head tipped back and her mouth opened. A small white light rose through her throat and floated gently out of her mouth and towards the pendant in mid-air in front of her. The two flew into each other and bonded, the metal melting slightly as it fell to the floor.

The smoke remained. But Willow flopped down onto the floor, her eyes rolling to the back of her head as she fell unconscious. Tara had to finish the spell. She picked herself up off the floor and retrieved the tarnished metal. Spike was groaning as he lay in Buffy's arms. She looked scared, she couldn't hear anything. No one could, the smoke seemed to be deafening any noise, but she could vaguely see Willow's motionless body where it lay abandoned. Tara knelt down beside them and put the pendant around Spike's neck, the pentagram resting over his scars, where his soul should be. She looked at Buffy as she pressed down, hard. She could see the slayer trying to hold back her emotion as Spike began to writhe. Tara's hand covered hers, their eyes meeting.

As soon as the pendant was pressed into Spike's skin, Hecate retreated from the room, and the smoke cleared. Tara left Spike's side and ran over to Willow, pulling her into her arms and cradling her defeated body. Tears pricked her eyes and Jenny ran over to them too. "It's okay," she kept saying over and over again, trying to reassure herself that she'd made the right decision in allowing them to do this. But she knew she was in the wrong. This was too dangerous, as her and Tara locked eyes, her fingers brushed over Willow's hair and the room descended into chaos.

To be continued...