Chapter 13: Conversations of the Familiar and Unfamiliar

"Shouldn't we be waiting for Buffy and Xander for a meeting?" Fred asked as they gathered at the table.

"We can tell them later," Tara said. "This is… important."

"Is it something with my vision?" No need to specify which one.

The witch nodded. "I think so. I think…"

"What is it?" Angel prompted.

"I think the Hellmouth is going to open."

The group collectively frowned.

Gunn spoke for all of them when he said, "That sounds… pretty damn bad."

"But we've handled that before," Angel reminded the group.

Oz was more hesitant. "What's different this time?"

"It's…" Tara frowned, thinking it over. Her voice was slow as she started speaking. "I think a different part is opening. I– After I felt it, I dug a bit deeper."

"And fainted," Connor muttered. He hadn't appreciated that.

She gave Connor a small, reassuring smile before biting her lip. "The Hellmouth has… layers of openings, I think. The easiest is the– the one you've seen, that leads straight to the older, destroying the world demons."

"How is that the easiest?" Cordelia said to no one in particular. "Shouldn't destroying the world be, I don't know, endgame?"

Tara shook her head. "Taking over the world. Some sort of army is the hardest portion to open. And that's what this is."

The group sat in silence, the dread pooling around them.

"We're going to have to talk to Buffy about this."

†

Buffy was extremely grateful the dead people weren't strong enough to knock her out. It only took a bit more of martial arts before she had got into the room and bolted them out.

Spike was in there as well.

"Nobody comes in here," he told her. "It's just the three of us."

"Spike, have you seen Dawn?" She could handle him later (if at all). Dawn was more important. "She came down here with some kids."

"Don't you think I'm trying!" Buffy jolted, but he was yelling to no one in particular. "I'm not fast. I'm not a quick study." He started crying, and somehow Buffy felt a calm take over her, her emotions having dropped into the bottom of the ocean. "I dropped my board in the water, and the chalk all ran. Sure to be canned."

He started to move away from Buffy and towards the wall, still facing in her direction.

Curious against her will, the Slayer slowly walked towards him before she stopped dead in her tracks.

Under his unbuttoned shirt were deep gashes, like claws had been scraped across his chest in multiple directions. No one could have gotten that close and attacked him for that long.

"What did you do?" she asked, the horror ringing clear in her voice mingled with apprehension.

"I tried… I tried to cut it out."

"What–" Her phone rang, and she eagerly turned away. "Dawn?"

"Buffy, where are you?" her sister asked.

"I–" She glanced back at Spike before turning away again. "Look, where are you?"

"I don't know. Near where we came in. By the furnace. They dragged us here and disappeared."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "They came after me."

"Do you know what they want?"

"So far? To piss me off."

"Is it working?" Dawn asked hopefully.

"Definitely," she replied. "I just can't figure them out. Ghosts can't touch you and zombies can't disappear, so I don't know what–"

"Not ghosts," Spike interrupted.

"Hold on," Buffy quickly said to her sister, turning to face the vampire again. "You know what they are?" she asked, not nearly as nicely as she would have asked a year ago.

"Manifest spirits controlled by a talisman, raised to seek vengeance." His tone turned petulant. "A four-year-old could figure it out."

She ignored the last comment (he had no right–) and turned back to the phone. "Hang on tight. I'll find you. These things can hurt you, but you can also hurt them. Find a weapon."

She hung up and turned to Spike, hesitant to invite him, but it was Dawn. She would go to hell and back for her. "You coming?"

"This is my home," he replied. "I belong here. Always been here. Cheers for stopping by."

He turned to walk away before running into a wall and placing his hands on it. "It's a wall," he muttered.

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "I'll… get back to you."

†

It only took a quick call from Buffy for Xander to be on his way to the girls' bathroom to destroy some sort of talisman.

His eyes widened as he took in the giant hole in the floor.

"Hello contract-y goodness." He shook off his thoughts. "Talisman," he reminded himself. Work could come later.

He edged around the hole to make his way to the sinks. Xander glanced around the floor before he saw the bundle of miscellaneous, mystical looking stuff.

"Let's go!" he exclaimed. "Talisman!"

He grabbed it, about to destroy it before he was quickly distracted by the dead girl randomly jumping on his back. Because it can never be easy. Immediately, he tried to elbow her, or make some sort of motion to slam her against the stall. After a second, he remembered the bundle in his hands and quickly snapped it in half.

The girl immediately disappeared, and he took a moment to collect his breath before he called Buffy again.

"Got the talisman."

"Thanks," she responded. "I've got the kids."

"Good. Meet you back at the house after work."

"You got it."

†

It was passing period when Robin found Buffy Summers again, talking to her sister and… Well, that would make it easier.

"Curiouser and curiouser," he said, alerting her to his presence as the kids started walking to their classes.

"What is?" she asked.

"Carlos Trejo and Kit Holburn, right? Possibly the only two students at this school whose files are as thick as yours was."

"You really did your homework, didn't you?"

"I was looking for one or both of them to actually implode right before midterms," an unfortunately literal idea, "But now I see that you've got them socializing, hugging and, if I'm not mistaken, actually headed to class."

"We had an… encounter."

"Look," he said. "I know you're probably more than happy to be rid of this place. But I gotta tell you Miss Summers, I think you belong here."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I know this school's reputation. We got a lot of troubled students here and just enough money to keep it from caving in."

"Yeah, you might need a little bit extra there," she muttered. What– Not the time, Robin. Not the time.

"Well, we do have a community outreach program, and the money we could pay you wouldn't even fold. But it would just be a couple days a week."

She looked at him in shock. "Are you asking me to be a counselor?"

"Of a sort. I was thinking the kids could use, you know, someone closer to their age who still–"

"I'm in!"

He blinked. He hadn't expected her to agree so easily.

"You're serious? You, uh, did hear the part about the money, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I heard. My schedule might be a little, uh, funtastic, but I'll work it out." She took a look around. "I'd like to keep an eye on this place."

†

Buffy's mood after getting a new job rapidly went downhill after she came home to find the rest of the gang looking nervous. Xander and Dawn came home soon after, and Tara explained what she had felt earlier that day.

"This day has not been fun." She was sitting in her room, having pulled Angel with her after the gang had dispersed.

"What else happened?" he asked, a worried expression on her face.

She sighed. "You remember that promise you made about letting me handle Spike, right?"

"He's back." That was one of the things she loved (and occasionally hated) about Angel. He got what she was getting at pretty much immediately.

"I… think so," she said, fiddling with the comforter on her bed.

Angel moved closer and sat next to her on the bed.

"He was acting, well, insane," Buffy continued, "Talking nonsense. And…" She paused for a moment. "He had these scratches on his chest, self-inflicted. Said he tried to 'cut it out', whatever that means."

Angel frowned. "Was it…"

"What?"

He shook his head, but answered anyway. "Up here-ish?" He motioned to the upper part, around his heart.

Buffy frowned. "Yeah, I think so. What is it?"

He hesitated. "I… I'd want to double check before I say anything."

She nodded. "But… you will leave him to me?" She needed to figure it out on her own. Angel would try to do… something. And she just. It was her mistake. Or not. No, it was his. But it was her problem.

"Of course," Angel replied.

She smiled, and leaned against him. Her heart was pounding too loud.

"I got a job today."

Angel hmmed. He could hear her heartbeat, too. The thought made her skin tingle. "What happened?"

"The new principal saw me talking to Dawn's new friends – apparently they're troublemakers – and I'm going to be a sort-of counselor a few days a week. So that's cool." Angel moved his arm around her, gently placing his hand over hers. "The principal's pretty shady, though."

"We'll keep an eye out on him."

"Yeah." Buffy kept her gaze forward, and turned her hand around, tracing the edge of his fingers with her thumb.

They went silent. There was always a tension, but also a security in knowing that they could handle it. They would never be just friends, but as long as they kept it quiet, indecipherable, they could survive. As long as she didn't look up at his face, didn't give into the unending urge to just kiss him, they could keep it from getting too far.

"Buffy…"

She quickly pulled away from his hold, shooting off the bed to stand by the door.

Maybe they should take a page out of the regency era and get a chaperone.

Buffy turned back around, to where Angel was just sitting there, acting like nothing had happened. His palm sat open. Just a hand.

No. She was willing to play with fire for this.

†

"I had a speech." Spike rocked back and forth. Back and forth. "I learned it all." His voice cracked. "She won't understand. She won't understand!"

"Well obviously she won't understand!" The red-headed figure walked past him. It had told him she died. Showed him, as he watched the red drip down. Red on red on red on red.

"Buffy's made it pretty obvious she doesn't notice evil until it's right up in her face. You of all people should know that since you're, you know, an example. And I'm… I'm more than that. More than flesh–

"More than blood. I'm…" Glory paused. "You know, I honestly don't think there's a human word fabulous enough for me! Oh, my name will be on everybody's lips. Assuming their lips haven't been torn off." There was a slight frown, before she shrugged it off. "But not just yet. That's alright, though–

"I can be patient. Everything is well within parameters. They are exactly where I want them to be." Adam turned down to the still crouching Spike. "As are you, Number 17. You're right where you belong–

"Did you really think a soul would change anything?" Angel crouched down on the floor next to Spike. "That it would change what you are? Make you free?" He turned to face the vampire. "You never will be–

"Because you'll always be mine." He could see Drusilla's fingers caress his face, but he couldn't feel anything. "You'll always be in the dark with me, singing our little songs. You like our little songs, don't you? You've always liked them, right from the beginning." She leaned in conspiratorially and smiled. "And that's where we're going–

"Right back to the beginning, William," Darla rose and began casually walking around him again. "Not your beginning, as common as it is, or even creation itself. The true beginning." She smirked. "These next few months are going to be quite a journey. And I think we're all going to learn something about ourselves in the process. You'll learn you're more pathetic than that so-called poetry of yours, but, let's be honest, you already knew that." She scoffed. "I mean, look at you. Trying to do right. Just like her. And you still don't get it," she told him mockingly. "It's not about right. Not about wrong–"

It went silent for a moment, forcing Spike to turn around to check if it's gone, only to find the smirking face of Buffy Summers.

"It's about power."

Finally done with Lessons. A bit of world-building, which hopefully makes sense. I think my favorite part of canon lifting was getting to see the scenes from Robin's POV, since I get to explore his character with the benefit of hindsight.

The Buffy/Angel scene is one of my favorites. Obviously we need to make sure the Spike stuff happens, but I added some more tension between them last minute, and I think it added something to the scene.

Instead of the Big Bads, the people who appear to Spike are the dead people from each season who influenced him the most. What they do in the show is really cool from a Doyalist perspective, but the Master wasn't really a big deal to Spike, and he never even met the Mayor.