Year 2004, Center of The Hellmouth
She barely paid noticed as the remaining girls frantically tried to exit out of the faltering Hellmouth. All she saw – all her mind allowed her to focus on was Spike, and his falter under the power of the amulet she had given him. Of course, she had known there would be consequences, and she had been proud that he had known it as well. There was rarely an apocalypse in which no one died, hardly ever one in which someone volunteered to. So as she stood in front of him she wouldn’t have wished different.
Over the course of six years, he had become her champion.
He glowed as he stood proudly, sending rays of light out into the hellmouth, hardly noticing that she had final gotten to his side. It was first that she had ever worry about him. Her heart raced at his sighting, she could barely stand at the thought of him in pain. As always it seemed like her pain transferred into his. His dazed eyes regaining focus as he realized that she had not yet left his side. Hoarsely, he whispered,“Go on, then.”
“No,” she replied frantically. “No, you've done enough. You could still— ”
He stood his head. “No, you've beat them back. It's for me to do the cleanup.”
She winced as the walls crumbled around her. “Buffy, come on!” She heard Faith call down to her.
“Gotta move, lamb,” he said, looking at her with the same fondness he had showed her a millions of times before. “I think it's fair to say school's out for bloody summer.”
“Spike!” She tried one last time.
“I mean it! I gotta do this,” he replied, blocking her out as he held his hand out to stop her. It was about the millionth time she realized that she didn’t want to let him go, as she laces her fingers through his. But it was the first time she realized that he was the one she wanted to live with, no matter what the consequences were. Him, and no one, she thought, as their hands bursted into flames together.
He was different.
Softly, she looked into his eyes. “I love you.”
She could see for a moment his trice decision to leave the hellmouth as it was. The Spike from her past wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
Instead this new Spike smirked, and scoffed: “No, you don't. But thanks for saying it.”
And as the earth shook once more, she reluctantly let go his hand and follow his request to left his side. It was hardly what she wanted to do. Now that she had said it, she wanted to scream it over and over again that she loved him. Say it at least one more time before he died. But oddly enough, he was doing the same thing for her. Screaming over and over again how much he loved her as he burned away into ashes. He wanted to see how it ended, she heard him say as he boasted with laugh.
He was right. Sunnydale was where he belonged in the end.
Whether not or it was with her.
Year 2000, location Sunnydale
Episode: Fool For Love
Buffy shivered.
As she stood outside in what could be considered the coldest night in Sunnydale history, she once again wondered why she had left her warm, and comfy bed to haunt the dauntingly familiar cemetery of Sunnydale, California. It wasn’t until she felt the sharp pain in her abdominal area that she realized it was for good reasons.
She needed to find Spike.
Last night, coming short of a complete nightmare, it had forced her to come to terms with a startling revelation. It was hard to admit, even now, but on the eve of what had been a normal patrol she had ended up in what could have been her final fight with the undead. As hard as it was to say, hard to put into words -- she had almost died. Scary, truly, to any person put in that kind of situation – but to Buffy it had been different. To Buffy, having her own stake turned against her, as frightening as she had pictured it being, hadn’t made her scared at all.
And that the problem. It was – no, she didn’t want to think about that.
If Riley hadn’t of been there – she stopped at the thought, remembering her descent into a consecrated cloak of darkness. As much as she tried to rationalize what happened; that she could have run, that she could have regain the upper hand in the fight -- there was nothing she could have done on her own to stop what was evidently going to happened that night.
She didn’t know why that was.
But Spike knew.
He had killed two Slayers. And she needed him to tell her how.
She needed to figure this death thing out.
Figure out, why she had been so close to it. Furthermore, she needed to know why it wasn’t troubling her the way it should. She should have been petrified to be at the cemetery alone once again, barely three hours after her own stake had been turned on her and Riley had come to her rescue. But she wasn’t.
And she knew there was only one person that could help.
The only person who would tell her the truth, she thought, as a crack of thunder caught her attention.
--
Stake me, he thought as his senses came back to him.
Standing cautiously, as his mind finally came to grip, Spike groggily realized that he wasn’t in LA anymore; The foggy background and pitiful cemetery only served to reaffirm it for him. After all the years he had stayed in Sunnydale, he still didn’t know why. Moreover, he hadn’t even questioned it until now. It always seemed to make sense that if Buffy was there, that’s where he needed to be at time. And he imagined the same theory applied today.
Because as many times as Spike had second guessed time travel in the past, all those reservations went away as his eyes landed on what he could tell was Buffy Summers.
--
She was in pain.
She couldn’t believe the pain she was in. Her body felt like it had been hit by a truck, and her head felt like it was about to explode at any moment. When she opened her eyes, she had no idea who was responsible, but she had no problem taking it out on her nearest victim. “Spike,” Buffy hissed, as he kneeled down cautiously in front of her. “What the hell did you do to me? How did I get on the floor?”
She hardly noticed his lack of response, as the pain swelling in her head heightened, the pain in her abdomen doubling. She closed her eyes again, hoping the pain would go away – and maybe, that Spike would too. However when she opened her eyes again both were still there. And on top of it, Spike was still staring at her oddly.
“What happened?” She asked through clenched teeth. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
His brow wrinkled in confusion. He looked like he had seen a ghost, or worse. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought she had grown two heads, and then she remembered the quirky qualities of the Hellmouth. Better to check, she thought to herself, as bought her hand to her throbbing head and continued to search her body for any defects. When she looked back up with complete satisfaction, Spike still hadn’t spoken a word. Tiring of being observed and obviously feeling the weight of the last few hours finally catching up with her, Buffy really lost her patience.
“Fine,” she said, barely gathering the strength to stand up. “Don’t say anything at all.”
--
As the Slayer stumped off, it barely registered to him that he had said nothing. He always knew it’d be strange seeing the Slayer at the age of eighteen again, but he hadn’t realized until now how strikingly disarming it could really be.
Her innocence.
That’s what struck him first.
She turned her back to him. Even in her raging fury, puerility could not attributed to her unreasonable trust in him.
It was so sad she’s going to lose it all by the end of this year.
“Slayer,” he yelled out, in an angry resignation. “I need to talk to you.”
He could tell she was hesitate to comply, as she slowly came to a stop. Turning around carefully she hissed, “Stay out of my sight, Spike.”
“Why?” he asked, as he slowly walked up to her. He could see the little machines working in her head as she watched him talk. “Afraid you might hear something you don’t like? ”
She took a step back. “What do you want?”
“A truce.”
He remembered the last time he had ask for first. She didn’t believe him – at first. Something told him, that she wanted to this time. She was studying him, had been since she had come back into consciousness. He was sure there were differences in him that she noticed. His darkish blonde hair color, the deep embedded burn mark on cheek, were some physical differences. The way he walked, the way his eyes meet up to her – or didn’t, there were definitely changes in him that she seemed to notice about him that weren’t immediate: He wasn’t scared of her, he wasn’t trying to impress her and most importantly he wasn’t in love with her.
“You’re not Spike,” she finally breathed out.
“I’m not,” he easily agreed, having decided that the truth would be the best approach to this situation. And in true slayer fashion, she pulled her favorite stake on him, not giving him a second to let the conversation get past introductions. “Then who are you?” She demanded, pressing the stake firmly to his heart. He snorted, more concerned with what he should say rather than the actual stake in her hand. “I’d love to tell you without that stake piercing at my heart,” he told to her.
He could tell from her hesitant stance that she was thinking about letting him go, then gave him a surprised look at doing so. For a Slayer who had a policy of stake first and ask questions later, his case seemed to unique. He figured it was curiosity that made her consider otherwise
“Fine,” she said, placing the stake back in the depth of her coat pocket. “You’ve got 10 seconds.”
He backed away slowly from her, and took a seat on a nearby headstone. “It’s complicated,” he struggled, before rolling his eyes and replying, “Well – actually it’s really simple. I’m from the future.”
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!