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| Longer, Then Forever - Prologue/Chapter 1 | | | | - - abc + | | | Longer Then Forever
*thanks to Starshine for the name
Prologue
(Some dialogue borrowed from “The Gift”)
Buffy pulled Dawn tightly into her arms and stared at the swirling portal in front of her. The thought of how she was going to fix this and manage to save her sister at the same time loomed in front of her. Blood.
Your blood.
It all came down to blood, didn’t it?
My blood.
And she knew what would close the portal.
Summers blood.
She pulled Dawn out of her arms and stared into her sister’s eyes. She knew what she had to do, but making Dawn understand was a different story. She was a Slayer, had been since she was fifteen. Saving the world was what she did.
“Dawn, listen to me.” Buffy paused long enough to brush the hair out of Dawn’s face. This was the last time she would ever see it, and she wanted to remember her sister’s face…wherever she ended up. “Listen. I love you. I will always love you. But this is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles ... tell Giles I figured it out. And, and I'm okay. And give my love to my friends.” Buffy paused again and looked over the edge of the platform. She could see them all below. Anya was injured and being cradled in Xander’s arms, Willow and Tara were holding hands and warding off a few left over minions, Giles was wiping his hands on his pants, and Spike…Buffy held her breath a moment as she watched Spike trying to run on his injured leg back to the tower. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. No regrets. Buffy turned back to Dawn. “You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. Dawn, the hardest thing in this world ... is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me.”
With a final kiss to her sister’s forehead, Buffy ran full speed toward the end of the tower. She raised her hands over her head and did a perfect swan dive right of the edge.
Buffy didn’t know what she had been expecting, but the portal had been made of pure energy and it surged into her body making every nerve scream in pain. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She must have curled into a ball because when she hit the ground, she rolled twice before finding herself face down in the dirt.
Slowly, Buffy picked herself up and looked around. She was alone. The sky above her was black, illuminated only by the occasional flash of lightening. There was a forest of dead trees directly in front of her.
The forest of no feelings. She thought to herself.
A sharp pain sliced through her shoulder, and she turned to find a…well, she didn’t know what it was, but it had a beak and it was headed back her way. Buffy took off running towards the trees. The bird broke off its chase as she made it behind the first tree, only to trip on a branch. Immediately, one of the branches moved to scratch her arm, which was when Buffy realized that she hadn’t tripped over a tree but some kind of being that looked like a tree. She started running again.
Oh, God! Where am I?
XXX
Gotta get up that tower. Got to save Buffy, save the bit. Gotta move faster. Spike was chanting in his head, one hand clutching his leg, as he tried to get back to the stairs of the tower. He heard the niblet scream, and he looked up to see Buffy diving off the tower.
“NO!”
Was that his scream? He wasn’t sure. Might have been his, might have been one of the others. He could feel them around him as he collapsed to his knees in the rocks, his injured leg finally giving out. Mesmerized, Spike watched Buffy’s body convulse inside the portal. It was like a bad horror movie he wanted to turn off but felt compelled to keep watching. It was only when Dawn threw herself into his arms that he turned away to bury his face in Dawn’s hair, so he missed the finale. Instead, he waited for the sickening thump of her body hitting the ground. He covered Dawn’s ears so she wouldn’t have to hear.
“Where did she go?” Willow’s whisper barely heard, but echoed inside the heads of the rest of the group.
Spike looked up. The ground in front of him, the ground where her body should have landed, was empty. He looked to the sky. That was empty too. Buffy Summers was no where to be found.
XXX
Chapter 1
Giles rubbed his eyes in frustration and slammed the book down. How long had it been? Oh yeah, one hundred and forty six days. Spike had been counting, and everyday that they didn’t find Buffy, he would remind the group how long she had been gone. On one hand, it annoyed him to no end that Spike felt the constant need to repeat his statement day after bloody, eternal day; “Buffy wouldn’t give up if it was one of us.” On the other hand, he found it almost sweet the way the vampire was so sure they would find her…almost.
The tagline had become their rallying thought, and each member of the group found themselves saying it to each other when ever they became frustrated. Even Xander used it, although with trepidation that Spike had coined it, but he used it because it was true. Buffy would never give up if it were one of them.
It no longer struck Giles as odd that Spike had never left that group after Buffy’s disappearance. The first few hours had left them all in a daze, but once the daze broke, Spike went into overdrive. He threw himself into research. He patrolled the Hellmouth. He made sure that Dawn was eating, sleeping, and going to school. When the bills began rolling into the Summers’ home, Spike nonchalantly paid them all and never mentioned it. Where he got the money from, Giles never asked and truthfully didn’t care. Spike was the first one up in the morning and the last to go to bed at night. Actually, most nights he never made it to bed, falling asleep face first in some book.
In all the confusion, it took weeks for anyone to figure out that he wasn’t eating. Tara noticed it one day when Spike passed out mid-sentence at her feet. She was horrified, and had taken great pains since then to make sure that she warmed him up three mugs of blood a day. She even stood over him to make sure that he drank them, and didn’t put the mug down on the table to remember hours later when it had coagulated.
Xander had once confronted the vampire. The hysterical young man had punched Spike in the chin and demanded to know why he had stayed where he wasn’t wanted. Spike had simply rubbed his jaw and mumbled a response before walking away.
“Made a promise to a lady.”
The words still echoed in Giles’ head. What had Buffy made him promise? He had asked, but Spike merely responded that it was between him and the Slayer.
“I GOT IT!” Willow’s shout echoed through out the room, bringing Giles out his train of thought.
“You sure this time, Red?” Spike didn’t look at her as he flipped another page in the book he was reading, and gently rearranged Dawn’s sleeping head on his shoulder. This wasn’t the first time Willow had yelled that sentence out, and it was usually followed with an ‘oh, no…sorry, thought I had it’ directly after it.
“No, I really have it. You guys, I have it!” Willow gave a little jump of excitement and waved her hands in front of her. “Come on, look! We can do this! All we need is a few supplies from the Magic Box…er, as long as Anya hasn’t sold the Amulet of Valero or the Urn of Altec.”
“Oh, I still have those. The stupid Ad’vak demon that ordered them disappeared and he STILL owes me for them.”
“Great! Xander can go with you to get them,” Giles muttered.
“You mean for free? Are we going to make money on this?” Anya gave a bewildered look toward the glances she got from the rest of the group. “What?”
“Ahn, not the time. Let’s go,” Xander pulled her to her feet and out the door.
“Wait,” Willow called after them. “You need the rest of the list.” When they didn’t come back, she bolted out the door after them.
Spike quietly woke Dawn up before standing up and moving about the room. It took both Tara and Giles a moment to figure out what he was doing. Spike. William the Bloody, part of the Scourge of Europe, appeared to be cleaning the Slayer’s house.
“Um, Spike? What are you doing?” Tara asked.
He paused and looked at her, one hand balancing a pile of books while the other was using a dirty shirt to wipe off a counter.
“Can’t have her coming home to a messy house, yeah?”
XXX
She awoke with a start, and sat up so fast that she nearly hit her head on the top of the cave. She’d had the dream again, the one with the strange people and the giant ball of light. The dream had been coming to her for longer then she could remember. She thought that it might be about the place she had lived before she came to be in…well she didn’t really know where she was.
With a grunt, she stood up and made a mark on the wall of her cave. She couldn’t remember why she did this. It was another thing that she had done for longer then she could remember, but she did know that everytime she hit the number 365, she made a big circle and started over. She didn’t remember what 365 meant…or any of the other things that came before it, but she did know that she had hit 365 exactly 147 times as of today. Tomorrow she would start over.
Everyday was the same. She would wake up, hunt down some food, and then spend the rest of the day staying alive. Sometimes she would try and draw the pictures from her dreams on the wall using the various colors of mud that covered the ground. She would draw a girl with red hair shooting wavy lines out of her hands. Other times, she drew a man with white hair and blue eyes. She liked drawing him best. His picture was all over her cave. Well, him and a girl with long brown hair. The girl was always dripping in red when she drew her. She vaguely wondered what it all meant, but in the end, she didn’t care. Pretty pictures in her mind to keep her entertained while she destroyed anything that crossed her path. Everything here was evil. Everything here tried to kill her. So, she simply made it a point to kill everything first.
She picked up her killing stick and sharpened it on her special rock before heading outside. There was a bi-lok sitting a few feet from her cave. She smiled. Bi-loks were the tastiest creatures to eat for breakfast.
With a guttural yell, she attacked the creature. To her surprise, the bi-lok turned around quickly and countered her attack. She screeched as it sank its razor sharp teeth into her arm, and embedded her killing stick deeply in its neck. The teeth released their grip as the last breath exited the creature. She stabbed it over and over again, her anger causing her to rip the creature to shreds before she stopped.
Sighing, she licked the red off her arm before covering it with more of the mud she wore as camouflage. She hated when she had to lick the red stuff. Something in the back of her mind said that it was wrong, but she couldn’t figure out why. The red stuff was always all over her food, and that didn’t bother her as much as it being on herself. She shrugged her shoulders, dragged the bi-lok into her cave, and began to eat breakfast.
She had almost finished eating when the light appeared outside her cave. She knew that light. It looked the same as the light that had brought her here. Slowly, she got up and approached it. She was afraid of what was on the other side. What if it was worse?
She put her hand into the light, and then immediately drew it back. She inspected her hand. It looked okay. She backed up a few steps, took a deep breath, and ran full speed into the light.
XXX
Willow took a deep breath and frowned at the book in front of her.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Dawn asked.
“Nothing, it’s just…well…”
“For heaven’s sake girl, tell us what it is,” Giles demanded.
They were standing in a circle at the base of Glory’s tower. Willow was squatting in the middle, arranging the various items needed for the spell. She looked up at the group.
“Well, there’s something in the spell that I didn’t notice before…”
“And that would be?” Xander asked, hoping from one foot to another. It was kind of chilly outside.
“We…we need the blood of an enemy and a loved one freely given.”
“Take mine,” Spike offered. “We were enemies long enough, should work.”
“But you have borrowed blood. Will that count?” Anya asked. “Does the blood you drink become yours once it’s inside you?”
“Blood’s blood. It should count.”
“And you can take mine,” Dawn offered, stepping forward.
“Well, um, see…we need a lot of blood…Spike should be okay, I mean, we can get him more blood later, but…I don’t know about one of us…We need to bleed until the spell is complete and Buffy returns to us. That could be seconds or hours.”
“And this wasn’t something you thought to mention before? Honestly Willow!” Giles chastised her while he mentally kicked himself for not double-checking the spell.
“She didn’t know. S-she was t-trying to help,” Tara muttered.
“You can still have mine,” Spike declared.
Giles walked into the middle of the circle and picked up the book. This was the third time that Willow had dragged them all out here, only to have the spell fail at the last second. He wasn’t sure how many more times they could take it. Giles adjusted his glasses and began to read.
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| Longer Then Forever - Chapter 2 | | | | - - abc + | | | Chapter 2
It had been when the marks on her cave had read fifty five that she’d stumbled across the baby locatha. The mother had either died or left the nest, and the baby was only a few days old. At first she had thought that it would be an easy meal, but when she approached it, the locatha had looked up at her with wide eyes and began to whine.
Hesitantly, she had reached out her hand for it to sniff. After a few moments, it began to make a purring noise as it rubbed its head against her hand. The motion made her smile, and so few things did, that she picked up the creature and took it home with her.
She named the creature Moyra because that’s what the noise it made sounded like to her. Moyra was her first companion in the time she had been there, and her only companion for the forty-five years of his existence.
Moyra had proved to be quite lovable from the get go. When he was little, he would sleep all curled up on her stomach, often kneading his paws into her stomach. As he grew bigger, Moyra had taken to sleeping right next to her, allowing her to use his side as her pillow.
During the day, the two would go off hunting together, sharing whatever food one of the caught. Sometimes they would jump into the cool liquid that lay at the end of the forest path. They would spend hours splashing about and trying to catch the swimming creatures that lived there.
On several occasions, Moyra had saved her life. The first time, she had been prowling a new creature that she had never seen before. It stood on two legs, like she did, but had a larger head with sharp teeth and tiny little arms. She watched the creature devouring the remains of some beast with strange fascination. The creature didn’t eat in so much as it ripped apart, some of the meat appearing to get into its mouth.
She had slowly crept forward, so intent on the prey in front of her, that she didn’t notice the second creature behind her. It made its move at the same time she did, and within moments she found herself standing between the two creatures.
With a battle cry, she had raised her killing stick to fight them both off, but they had already cornered her. She was fighting the best she could, kicking and stabbing, but it was no use. She had underestimated them, and she would die.
At the last moment, Moyra had leapt out from the forest, his teeth blazing, claws extended, and fur standing straight up on his back. He growled as he struck the one closet to her neck, sinking his teeth into it. It screeched and tried to pry the locatha off its neck, and she had used the moment of confusion to strike out against the other one. It was a fierce battle, but they won. Moyra had one scratch on his front leg and she had a deep gash on her stomach, but they had made it out okay.
The last time Moyra had saved her life, it had cost him his own. She didn’t like to remember that day and so she pushed the memories of it to the farthest reaches of her mind. She had buried him in front of the entrance to the cave that way he was always watching out for her…wherever he was.
XXX
The first time that Willow had dragged them all to the area underneath Glory’s tower, Buffy had been missing for three weeks.
She had arranged them all in a semi-circle with Dawn in the middle, then made everyone else slice the middle of their palm while hopping on one foot and chanting. Willow had gathered the drops of blood in a small bowl and mixed it with herbs. She had smeared the concoction in shapes on Dawn’s forehead.
A glowing ball appeared above Dawn’s head, and the group held their breath. The creature that came out of there, however, was not Buffy. It had been some green creature with red horns, which had grabbed Dawn and shaken her, all the while screaming about cow princesses. Spike had snapped his neck pretty quickly.
The walk home that night had been torturous. Willow kept going over the spell while Tara kept insisting she had done everything right. Xander had his hand firmly over Anya’s mouth as she kept making inappropriate comments regarding the green man. Giles had been fairly quiet and Spike had Dawn tucked under his arm. She was inconsolable.
The second time Willow’s convinced “I’ve got it, no I’ve really got it” moment came a hundred days after Buffy had disappeared. The odd thing about the spell they cast was that it created a giant ball of energy that allowed them to see into another dimension. The scene that played out had given them all nightmares for weeks.
A strange human like creature covered in what looked like a mud type liquid was using a stick to fight off… well Xander had called it an offspring between a velaciraptor, a green parrot, and a horse. It was hideous, but the creature fighting against it was exquisite. Its moves reminded Spike so much of Buffy, but this creature was a tad more primitive in its fighting style. Still as graceful, and he bet that with the right training and weapons, the creature would give the Slayer a run for her money.
For a while it looked like the human creature was winning but the velpaorse, as Xander named it, suddenly managed to use its claws to rip a diagonal line across the creature’s back. Tara had let out a horse cry as the group watched the wound spread open from shoulder to lower back and blood began to pour out of it.
An inhuman cry had been heard from just out of the energy ball’s range of vision. A large dog like creature with horns leapt into the viewing ball and attacked the velpaorse. It was claws and teeth, screams and howls, blood and guts spilling all over. The dog had paused in its fight to lick the wound of its master before taking a bite out of the velpaorse’s stomach. The velpaorse fought back, ripping one of the dog’s horns off. Back and forth the two went until the velpaorse managed to get one of its claws under the dog’s belly. The tear dropped the animals intestines onto the ground and the next howl came from the mud creature, who had caught its second wind and tore into the velpaorse with wild abandon. Within moments both the velpaorse and the dog were dead and the viewer closed.
XXX
Today was going to be different, Willow could feel it. There was something in the air. She looked around to see if anyone else felt it to and caught Tara’s small smile. Willow returned the smile and added a skip to her step. This was going to work.
It was a few minutes later that the smile slid off her face. Crap! Why hadn’t she noticed the part about the blood sooner? Everyone was going to be so mad at her if this didn’t work. Wait, Spike offered his blood…and Dawn…Yeah, this could work…and why was Giles giving her that look? Didn’t he trust her? Oh, goddess this had to work.
“Spike, Dawn please stand here,” Willow swallowed thickly. “Um, could you guys, like, form a circle around us…please? Tara, can you stand so that the four of us form like a square of sorts. Okkaaaay.”
Tara looked into Willow’s eyes, “you can do this.”
“Yes, please do so that we don’t have to get dragged out here again,” Anya muttered from the circle. “It looks like it’s going to rain and I don’t have an umbrella because the stupid weather man said that I didn’t need it. Why would he lie like that?”
“Anya…sweetie…baby, please, please just don’t talk,” Xander pleaded.
Willow pulled out a small, golden knife. Spike laid his hand in hers and kept eye contact while she sliced neatly through the palm. She then did the same to Dawn, and tried her hardest not to flinch when Dawn let out a small cry. Tara held Spike and Dawn’s hands just inches from each other and let their blood flow onto the items that Anya had “donated” to the spell. Willow began to chant in Latin, and Tara echoed her words as bits of leaves and herbs were added to the blood mix. A green light began to glow between them. It glowed bigger and brighter as Willow and Tara chanted louder. There was a loud noise, and the four found themselves flung backwards from their square.
Spike was the first to sit up and notice the creature squatting where he had been standing just a moment ago. It was the human-like mud creature.
“Oh, great, Willow, now what did you bring us?” Xander asked, helping Anya up from the ground.
“It should have worked. It should have worked. I used the thorn of diagle and the leaves of bitoma,” Willow muttered to herself.
“Willow stop muttering and let’s figure out what you’ve brought here,” Giles was franticly cleaning his glasses.
Spike was still looking at the creature. It appeared to be female, or at least if it was human it would be female, it had the same parts. Its hair was long and matted beneath, and it wore no clothes if you didn’t count the mud. But for some reason, Spike couldn’t stop staring. This creature called to him, spoke to him some way. But how?
The creature was making a low noise in its throat as it regarded the Scoobies. It pivoted slowly toward where Spike was still on the ground. It cocked its head and looked at him for a moment before leaping on him.
Spike was about to knock the creature off him when the creature caught his face between its hands and slowly began to feel the contours of his face. He froze as fingers traced his cheeks, over his nose, and around his lips, but it was when their eyes met that he finally opened his mouth.
“Buffy?”
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| Longer Then Forever - Chapter 3 | | | | - - abc + | | | Chapter 3
At first the light had hurt her eyes. She blinked at the fuzz that covered her sight. The beings that came into her line of focus looked oddly familiar. She didn’t feel the need to attack them, so she just stayed where she was while she tried to figure out what the feeling in the pit of her stomach meant. It wasn’t what she felt like when she wanted to eat…it was something else.
There was a tingling in the back of her neck that made her slowly turn to the being behind her. She cocked her head to one side, studying it. For some reason the tingles made her think danger, but at the same time, she didn’t feel like killing this one. Then she saw the eyes, the blue eyes from her dreams.
She leapt on top of him, needing to know this wasn’t a dream. He didn’t fight her off as her fingers traced over his face. She avoided direct contact with his eyes. For some reason that scared her, as though looking into his eyes would tell her secrets she didn’t want to know. But he ducked down a bit to catch her eye, and then he made a sound. He looked at her as though waiting for a response, but she didn’t give one. His eyes mesmerized her, and she leaned farther forward to try and figure out why.
The other being behind her began to make a lot of noise. They closed in around her, making her feel trapped. She looked up over the blue eyed one’s head at the two beings moving toward her. One had things over his eyes, the other tall with dark coverings on his head. She growled low in her throat, trying to convey her superiority over them. She gave a quick glance around her and, with a start, recognized the red head and the long, dark haired one from her dream as well.
“Buffy, do you know who we are?” Giles asked slowly, adjusting his glasses.
Buffy ignored him, intently studying Willow and Dawn. She stood slowly and stalked toward Willow, grabbing one of the redhead’s hands. Willow gave a startled shriek, but stilled under Buffy’s glare. The group watched as Buffy studied the tips of Willow’s fingers for a bit before lifting her own hand and wriggling her fingers.
“What’s she doing?” Xander asked.
“I’m not sure,” Giles replied.
Buffy grunted, stamped her foot, pointed at Willow’s hand again, and made the wiggling motion with her fingers.
“I-I don’t understand what she wants,” Willow said.
Buffy pulled on her hair in frustration. She walked up to Willow and pulled Willow’s arm so that it was straight in front of her body. Then she spread Willow’s fingers and made them wiggle.
“I’m sorry, Buffy. I don’t understand,” Willow cried, exasperated.
“Wait!” Tara called before blushing over how loud she’d been. “I-I t-t-thing she’s trying to covey your power? You know, like it comes from your fingers?” She posed it as a question, waiting for approval from the group.
“Willow, try doing a simple spell,” Giles suggested.
Willow muttered a bit under her breath, and the rock next to Buffy’s foot levitated off the ground. A big smile broke on Buffy’s face as she pointed from Willow to the rock.
“She remembers you’re a witch,” Dawn smiled. “She remembers…”
Dawn trailed off as Buffy moved to stand in front of her.
“Hi, Buffy. I-I’m Dawn, your sister. Do you remember me?”
Buffy picked up Dawn’s arm and studied it. She smeared a bit of the mud on her hand onto the inside of the arm. She looked back to Dawn before spitting on the mud so that it dripped off Dawn’s arm.
“Okay, ew!” Xander muttered.
“It’s supposed to be Dawn’s blood dripping,” Spike announced softly.
“How do you know that?” Xander asked.
“I think…I think she’s trying to show us what she remembers. I think that wherever she was…it was a lot longer then a hundred and forty seven days…”Spike trailed off as he noticed Buffy’s shift in attention. She had seen Glory’s tower.
“Now what’s she doing?” Anya asked.
Buffy had walked to the staircase of the tower and was slowly running her hand up and down the railing. Hesitantly, she climbed up on the first step, paused, looked to the top, and then resumed climbing.
“No, don’t let her go up there again!” Dawn cried out.
Spike was already at the foot of the stairs following her up. Buffy didn’t stop until she was standing on the platform of the tower. She looked out into the horizon before turning to face Spike. She stared at him for a moment before pointing at him and then pointing at the ground.
“That’s right,” Spike said softly. “I was on the ground when you were up here.”
Buffy turned back toward the edge and stared out into space again. Spike moved closer so that he could grab her if she tried to jump again. She surprised him by spinning around to face him and wildly gesturing at herself.
Spike cocked his head. “You jumped to save Dawn…and the world.”
Buffy looked at him in frustration and began poking her index finger violently to her chest.
“Stop, luv, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Spike said as he tried to grab her hand. She pushed him away and stamped her foot before poking herself in the chest again. When Spike still didn’t get it, Buffy leaned forward and poked him in the chest and then herself again.
“Yeah, I’m a vampire, you’re a Slayer.”
She pulled at her hair, strangled cries coming out of her throat and suddenly Spike understood. He grabbed her hands and pointed his own finger at her chest.
“Buffy.”
Buffy stilled and cocked her head at him.
“Bu-ffy Su-mmers,” he repeated slowly.
“B-B-Buuf,” her voice was hoarse with disuse.
“Bu-ffee Su-mmers,” Spike said.
She peered at him from beneath the rat nest that was her hair and tried to imitate the movements of his lips.
“Bu-ffeeeeeee,” she tried.
“That’s good, luv. Buffy Summers, that’s you.”
“S-S-Sommors.”
“Su-mm-ers”
“Buffee Summers.”
Spike smiled. “That’s it, luv.”
Buffy broke into a big grin. “Buffee Summmers! Buffee Summerss! Buffee Summers!”
Spike laughed at her childish jumping up and down. “Come on there, Buffy Summers, let’s get off this infernal tower, eh?” He took her hand and started to lead her down the stairs, but she pulled on him to stop. Confused, he turned around to face her only to find her finger in his chest. “Oh, who am I then? Spike. Sp-iik.”
“S-Spiiiikuh.”
“Close. Spike.”
“Spikuh…Spike…Spike,” she grinned again. “Buffy Summerss, Spiike.”
Buffy continued chanting their names all the way down the tower. When she got to the bottom, she walked up to the Scoobies, pointed at herself and announce, “Buffy Summers.”
“Um, yeah…doesn’t she know that we know who she is?” Anya asked.
“I don’t think she does,” Giles responded.
Buffy walked up to Dawn and pointed a finger at her. Dawn looked up questioningly at Spike.
“She wants to know your name, bit. Can’t remember.”
Dawn looked at her sister a moment. “Dawn.”
“D-D-D,” she stopped and swallowed. “D-Doowwn.”
Spike walked up beside them. “Duhaawn,” he said slowly.
“D-duhaawn,” Buffy said and grinned when Dawn nodded. “Duhawn, Spiik, Buffee Summers.”
It took an hour for Buffy to figure out everyone’s names. She got stuck the longest on Anya because the girl wouldn’t take any sort of mispronunciation of her name. Finally, looking quite pleased with herself, Buffy turned away from the group and walked over to the side of a building. She laid herself down on the ground and curled up like she was going to go to sleep.
“Now what’s she doing?” Anya asked.
“I, um, I think she’s going to sleep,” Tara replied.
“Outside?” Anya gasped.
“I don’t think she knows any different,” Giles said. “I would have to, erm, agree with Spike on this one. Where ever Buffy was, it was a bit longer for her than it was for us. Possibly years longer.”
“Maybe she just hit her head and she’ll remember everything tomorrow?” Xander asked hopefully.
“But she will remember, right? I mean, she has to, right?” Dawn flung her arms around Spike’s waist and buried her face in his shirt, trying to hide the tears that were already falling. “She has to.”
Spike stared at the sleeping figure in front of him. “I don’t know, nib, but we’ll try, yeah? Try and help big sis out?”
“We need to get her home, and get her cleaned up, and oh, research, we need to research on where she was and what happened, and food, I think she needs food, and-“ Willow’s ramblings were cut off by the gentle squeeze from Tara’s hand.
“I-I think that s-someone should try and get her to f-follow us home,” Tara said. “And I-I think that it should be S-Spike because she r-recognized him first.”
“I think that you may be right,” Giles told her and the blonde girl released a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. “Spike, would you please try and get Buffy to follow you home?”
“Me? You want me to get the Slayer home?” Spike turned to the man with a questioning look on his face.
“Yes, you,” Giles said impatiently. “Tara is right, she recognized you first.”
Spike took a quick glance around the group before nodding his affirmation. He walked over to where Buffy was lying on the ground, trying not to be too quiet.
“Buffy, luv, time to go home. Need to get you all cleaned up and proper like, yeah?” Spike rambled off a few more nonsensical lines hoping that Buffy wouldn’t wake up and attack him.
“Spike?” Dawn’s voice called out.
“Just a minute, bit,” he called back.
“Um, SPIKE!”
Spike turned around to see a large demon heading straight for the group. There was a growl behind him and a muddy blur as Buffy streaked by him.
XXX
| | | | |
| Longer Then Forever - Chapter 4 | | | | - - abc + | | | Happy Thanksgiving!
XXX
Chapter 4
It had been a shock when she saw all the people from her dream standing around her. She had briefly wondered if she was still sleeping after all. The place…it was so familiar. She felt like she should know things about it, like it held secrets about who she used to be. It was even more frustrating that the group of people kept making odd noises at her. Noises that she knew used to be common to her. It made her pull her hair and stomp her feet that they held this power over her.
The she had seen the tower, the evil monstrosity that had haunted her sleep. The sight of it filled her with fear because deep down she knew that this was the reason that she had been taken from her home. Taken from a life that she no longer remember and forced to endure all the hardships that had been commonplace to her for so long.
She needed to touch it, feel it. Memories flashed in and out of her mind faster then she could grab hold of them. Moments were she knew what was happening before forgetting again. The more she tried to hold on to them, the faster they were gone, and then more frustrating it was.
The blond man followed her up the staircase, but his presence didn’t bother her. She almost found it…comforting, like when she had Moyra with her. A memory struck her again. He had not been up here with her before. She turned to face him and pointed at the ground, and was pleased that he seemed to understand. He was making sounds again and she suddenly had a thought that maybe…maybe she was called something.
Frantically she tried to make him understand that she wanted to know who she had been, who she was. At first he continued making more sounds, shaking his head that he didn’t understand, but then…
“Buffy.”
Buffy. Buffy. Buffy. Buffy Summers. That was her! It was like this great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She had a name. He knew her name. She hadn’t felt so happy in…well, ever as far as she knew. Elated, she danced around the platform. Wait, if she had a name then he did too and she wanted to know. She looked at him and watched him smile slowly.
“Spike.”
Spike. Buffy Summers and Spike. She giggled to herself as she let him lead her back to the ground. The rest of the people gathered around them, and she wanted to know all their names. Dawn Summers…just like Buffy Summers. She wondered if Spike was Summers too. Around the entire circle she went until she had all their names down. Willow and Tara, Giles, Xander and Anya, Dawn, and Spike, and Buffy. Buffy, Buffy, Buffy. She never wanted to forget that again.
A bad tingling crept up her neck. Something was coming. She split off from the group and went to lie down in the dirt. Whatever was on its way would think her an easy target and move in on her first. She hoped that it would taste good. It would be awful if the first thing she offered her friends to eat was icky.
She heard them talking loudly and then she felt Spike coming closer. His voice low and soothing and her name repeated often from his lips. She shivered at his presence, then tensed up as she heard Dawn’s scream. That didn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t it go for the easiest prey in the area?
With a growl she leapt past Spike and grabbed the demon from behind. It stumbled backward and tried to buck her off. She pulled its head back and sank her teeth into its neck. With a howl, the demon grabbed her by the hair and flipped her off. She landed on her feet and kicked the beast in the stomach. It tripped and fell backward and she jumped on its belly, grabbing a nearby stick she plunged it over and over into the soft skin of the demon until it stopped moving.
She grunted with satisfaction and turned to face the group with a smile.
XXX
“Dear Lord,” Giles breathed as he watched Buffy attack the Fyral demon. Her fighting was so primal, although he could see her old form in the kick that she delivered.
“Oh God, Giles what’s she doing?” Xander asked as Buffy turned to smile at them before hacking off demon body parts.
“I think, I think I’m going to be sick,” Dawn moaned and turned her head to the side.
“Not on my shoes,” Anya squeaked too late.
“Sorry,” Dawn muttered.
Buffy picked up an arm and carried it over to Spike. He looked at her quizzically for a moment, and Buffy took a large bite of the arm, chewed and swallowed, and then presented him with the arm again.
“I think I’m going to be sick too,” Xander said.
“I second that,” Willow said, clutching her stomach.
“Oh, dear lord,” Giles muttered, removing his glasses.
Spike took one look at Buffy’s face and knew he had to take a bite of the Fyral demon. She looked so proud of herself, and he really ought to feel honored that she was offering him the first bite of her freshly killed dinner. Gingerly, Spike took the arm from her and took a bite. He chewed quickly and swallowed. Huh, not bad…Buffy broke into another grin and walked over to offer the arm to Dawn.
Dawn forcefully shook her head at the demon part. “No, thank you.”
Buffy frowned and tried to push the arm at her again.
“No, really. I’m full. Full.” Dawn pointed at her stomach and shook her head.
Buffy cocked her head to one side and started to take another bite of the arm, but Giles grabbed it out of her hand.
“No, Buffy, we don’t eat demons. Xander, didn’t you bring any food? You always have food.”
“Um, I think I got a twinkie in my pocket…Yep, creamy filled goodness right here,” Xander proudly pulled the twinkie from his jacket. “Look, Buffy, yummy chemical created food that you didn’t need to savagely rip apart with your bare hands.” He handed the twinkie to her.
Buffy looked at him quizzically before sniffing the desert item in her hands.
“You eat it. See?” Xander mimicked the eating of the cake to her, then rubbed his stomach. “Good.”
Buffy stuck her tongue out and licked the twinkie before taking a small nibble at it. Her eyes opened wide as she swallowed and she stuck her finger in the remaining half, scooping out the cream. She licked it slowly off her finger, making small mewls in the back of her throat.
“Okay, is anyone else even more disturbed by this?” Xander asked.
“I think it’s rather sexy,” Anya remarked. “I never knew that watching someone lick their finger could be so gratifying.”
“Well, who wouldn’t want a twinkie after being in a Hell dimension all this time?” Willow asked. “Especially if we, um, just bore witness to the stuff she was eating, ‘cause ew.”
“Now what’s she doing?” Xander asked.
Buffy had finished the twinkie and walked a bit away from the group. She was squatting down near the brick wall that enclosed the area.
“Um, I think she’s going to the bathroom,” Tara remarked.
Giles removed his glasses again. “Oh, good lord.”
XXX
The creature died quite easily and that surprised her. It was almost like it hadn’t been expecting a fight. Luckily the demon was fairly large and would be able to feed the whole group. She was proud that she was able to provide this for them.
Picking up the arm, she walked to Spike first. Whenever she was near him, her whole body tingled and it felt good. She decided that being near him was a good thing. He looked at her like he didn’t understand what she wanted and Buffy took a bite to demonstrate. Hmm, tasted pretty good.
She was elated when he took the offered arm and bit into it. She watched him chew and swallow with relish. He liked it, she could tell. Buffy hadn’t smiled so much in her life. She took the arm back and went to offer it to Dawn, but the girl appeared to change color. Giles and Xander were speaking very fast, and Xander handed her something. It was a strange yellowy color and spongy to the touch. Xander made a motion for her to eat it, so she stuck out her tongue to taste it. MMM, she had never tasted anything so sweet before. It was chewy and filled with a creamy substance and was so good. She moaned as she licked all the white frosting off her fingers deciding that she very much liked where she was.
Now quite full, Buffy realized that she needed to relieve herself. She wandered off to the corner and was surprised when the group began animatedly talking again. Hmm, maybe she wasn’t supposed to do this? But, she had to go…didn’t they have to go too?
Spike was the first one to walk up to her, speaking slowly and using her name often. She liked that about him. He was so calm and soothing. He pulled her to a standing position and looked at her hesitantly for a moment. Then he slowly shrugged off the black leather on his shoulders and wrapped it around her. Buffy was confused for a second but allowed him to slid her arms into the duster and button it up. He pushed some of her muddy hair back from her face and smiled sadly.
“There goes the duster,” Spike thought. “Always was a fool for love, gave the girl me bloody duster, aren’t I a right git?”
He watched as Buffy played with the buttons before taking her by the hand and leading her away from Glory’s tower and back toward her home.
XXX
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| Longer Then Forever - Chapter 5 | | | | - - abc + | | | Chapter 5
“We need to bathe her,” Anya announced as they walked into the Summers’ residence.
“I c-could help,” Tara offered. “I’m really good at getting knots out.”
“I’ll go see if I can find something for her to eat,” Willow said, walking to the kitchen.
“I’ll help Tara with the bath,” Dawn said, taking her sister’s hand from Spike’s.
Buffy gave a little noise in the back of her throat. She had been so busy looking around her that she hadn’t noticed Dawn grab her hand.
“Careful, bit. Best not to sneak up on her so fast,” Spike said.
“But, I didn’t. I was talking the whole time,” Dawn protested.
“Yeah, but she can’t understand you.”
“Oh,” Dawn said.
“The rest of us will begin researching where Buffy’s been. Maybe if we known where she was, we can help her now,” Giles said.
“I’ll…get donuts,” Xander offered.
Giles nodded at him as he watched Dawn and Tara trying to lead Buffy upstairs. Buffy kept stopping to look at the pictures on the wall, and every so often she would try to touch one, leaving a smear of mud across the glass.
XXX
“How are we going to do this?” Dawn asked once they were in the bathroom.
“Um, I think for the first part we should just sit her down in the tub and run the shower over her.”
“Okay, suggestion. Maybe we should put on different clothes ‘cause we’re going to get soaked.”
Tara nodded slowly. “Good idea. Why don’t you change first and I’ll watch her.”
Dawn nodded and walked into her bathroom.
Tara watched Buffy’s fascination with the mirror.
“That’s you,” Tara said as Buffy tried to poke the mirror. “Do you wanna try and brush your teeth?”
Tara picked up Buffy’s toothbrush and showed it to her. “Toothbrush. Tooothbrush.”
Buffy looked at the toothbrush then to Tara. “Toothbrush,” she repeated.
Tara nodded and picked up the tube of toothpaste off the counter. “Toothpaste. Toothpayst.” She waited until Buffy had repeated both several times before putting the paste on the brush. Then she picked up her own toothbrush and started brushing her teeth. She looked at Buffy to see if the other girl followed her example. Buffy watched her for a moment and then tried to stick her toothbrush in Tara’s mouth.
“No, sweetie, that’s your toothbrush. See,” she guided Buffy’s brush to her mouth. Buffy allowed her to brush her teeth for awhile before taking the brush herself. She happily brushed her teeth until Dawn came back. Then she tried to brush Dawn’s teeth.
“No, I have my own toothbrush, thank you,” Dawn insisted as Tara hurried out to change. “You need to spit out the toothpaste though, don’t…swallow it,” Dawn said too late.
“Buffy toothbrush,” Buffy announced proudly.
“Uh, yeah, why don’t I run the water,” Dawn said walking over to the tub. “Come on Buffy, let’s take off Spike’s duster and get you in here.” She moved to take the coat off, but Buffy growled. “You can’t wear it in the water, you’ll ruin it even more.”
“What’s going on?” Tara asked, walking back into the bathroom.
“She won’t take off the duster.”
“Oh…well, maybe she thinks that, um, you’re trying to take it away from her?” Tara suggested. “Buffy,” she said soothingly. “You can have that back after your bath, okay?”
Buffy growled again.
“Maybe we should get Spike?” Dawn suggested.
“Well, I suppose we’ve all technically already seen her naked…”
Dawn was already yelling for him down the stairs, and Spike appeared seconds later.
“Wot’s wrong?”
“Buffy won’t take off the duster,” Dawn told him.
“Oh, yeah?” Spike walked over to Buffy. “Come on, luv, time to get you all squeaky clean. If the leather’s not ruined, you can have it back.”
It was no surprise to Tara when Spike was able to calmly take the jacket off her. He led her over to the tub and motioned her to get in. Buffy quietly sat down in the tub and Spike turned the faucet on.
“Bit, fetch us one of those big ounce glasses the whelp left here, would ya?”
Dawn ran out of the room and thundered back in a moment later with said item. Spike had picked up washcloth and was already gently cleaning the mud off Buffy’s face.
“Their auras are so beautiful,” Tara breathed softly to Dawn.
“Really? Wish I could see that.”
“I’ll teach you,” Tara offered.
Spike was slowly washing the layers of mud from Buffy’s body and he couldn’t stop the surprised gasps as he uncovered scar after scar on her.
“Oh my goddess,” Tara breathed.
“The scar on her back, Spike. She has a scar on her back…like the creature in the bubble we saw…” Dawn just realized what Spike had already known, and she started crying softly.
Buffy obliviously played with the water running out of the facet, making small noises and occasionally splashing Spike.
Tara had pulled Dawn into her arms.
“Will-Will you be o-okay alone w-with her for a moment?” Tara asked.
“Yeah, me and the Slayer will be just fine, won’t we Buffy?”
Buffy smiled at him when he said her name.
“We’ll be just outside,” Tara said.
Spike nodded and turned his attention back to Buffy. Most of the mud was off her now, well except for her breasts and her lower areas. It wasn’t because he felt ashamed of touching her there, more like he didn’t want Glinda of the bit to see him do it and he was glad they left. There wasn’t anything sexual about cleaning someone like this, a century with Dru had taught him that, but it was still something he doubted the humans would understand. He mechanically washed the remaining mud off her body, trying to ignore the small moan the came from Buffy’s lips as he cleaned off her inner thigh. Now was not the time for that.
Buffy seemed to have other ideas though, and she grabbed his hand and tried to put it back there.
“Sshh, pet. Not now, but soon if you want it, yeah?” he breathed softly in her ear, placing a light kiss on her neck. His hands were rubbing soothing circles on her wrists. “What say we do something about this hair?”
Spike filled the mug with water and gently dumped it over her head. Then he grabbed a bottle of conditioner and dumped half of it onto his hand. He covered her entire hair with it, and then picked up a comb. He turned her head to one side and methodically worked through little sections of her hair. After a while, Tara came back into the room, picked up another comb and began to work on the other side. Three hours and two bottles of conditioner later, the knots were out.
“Okay, so we shampoo, rinse and repeat,” Tara said tiredly, picking up the bottle of shampoo.
Another hour and they had Buffy completely clean and semi dressed in a t-shirt, she had refused the boxers.
“Should we cut her hair today or tomorrow?” Tara asked, watching Buffy draw pictures in the steam covered mirror.
“Might as well do it tonight,” Dawn answered.
They sat Buffy down on the toilet, and Tara found a pair of scissors. She combed out a section of hair and was moving the scissors toward Buffy’s head, when the Slayer spun around, grabbed the witches hand and slammed her into the wall.
“Buffy, no!” Dawn yelled, trying to pull her sister off. Spike was stronger though, and he grabbed Buffy’s arms, yanking her backwards.
Buffy struggled against him, but Spike held firm.
“No, Buffy. We don’t hurt friends,” he told her as he blocked a kick she had aimed at his stomach. “I said, no. Look at me Buffy.” Spike managed to pin her against the sink and pulled her face to look at him. When she continued to struggle, Spike did the only thing he could think of, he kissed her.
| | | | |
| Longer Then Forever - Chapter 6 | | | | - - abc + | | | Chapter 6
Two seconds after Spike’s lips touched hers, Buffy bit him, hard. She drew blood. Spike didn’t relinquish the claim on her lips, and she must have decided she liked it because a few seconds later, Buffy opened her mouth and let his tongue enter. She moaned into his mouth and Spike was able to relax the grip he had on her, and let his hands slide down her arms to settle on her waist. Her own hands remained flush on his chest.
Tara and Dawn stood to the side, shifting their feet uncomfortable. Finally, Tara cleared her throat loudly, and Spike pulled away from the kiss. Buffy let out a little whimper at the loss of his touch and tried to pull him back toward her, but Spike held her back. He licked a bit of the blood off his lips and moved to wipe the blood off of Buffy, but she was already wiping it away herself. She looked a bit mesmerized at the sight of it and she held her hand up to Spike, making an inquisitive noise.
“It’s blood,” he told her. “Blood.”
“Blud,” she repeated and started to lick it off.
“No, don’t-don’t do that, luv,” Spike said, grabbing her hand.
“No blud?” Buffy asked.
“No, pet, no blood. We need to cut your hair, ‘kay? You need to let Tara,” Spike pointed at Tara. “Cut,” he made a scissors motion with his hands. “Your hair,” he pointed at her hair and made a mime of cutting it.
Buffy pulled a chunk of her hair in front of her face, inspecting it. She held it up to Spike.
“Hair,” he told her.
“Hair.”
“Yeah, show it, grow it, long as you can, hair,” Spike muttered. “Now,” he said steering Buffy back to the toilet. “Sit.”
“Sit,” Buffy repeated. “Tara, hair.” Then she made the cutting motion with her hand and eyed the scissors. “No blud.”
“No blood,” Tara told her.
XXX
Xander slammed the book closed. “I don’t understand why we’re doing this. I mean, Buffy’s back, can’t we just y’know do a little spell to put her memory back and be all good?”
“Xander, magic doesn’t work that way. There are consequences to those kind of things,” Anya told him, picking up a chocolate covered donut.
“Anya’s right. We need to know where Buffy was so that we can help her with her rehabilitation,” Giles told him.
“Well, maybe I could do a little spell,” Willow said. “Just something that might help her communicate better?”
“NO! That’s the final answer on that. Wherever Buffy was, she was there for a very long time and we need to figure out how that affects her. She’s like a primitive, which goes along with the long time theory, but she doesn’t look like she’s aged…there must be a prophecy of some sort,” Giles cleaned his glasses on his shirt.
“Tell me that he didn’t just say the p-word?” Xander begged.
“No can do. He said the p-word,” Willow said.
“Wow, Buffy. You look so clean,” Anya announced, looking up at the top of the stairs.
“And so not wearing a lot of clothing,” Xander muttered.
“And your hair looks great,” Willow complimented, pointing at the now shoulder length hair and grinning.
“Tara cut,” Buffy replied, smiling back. “No blud.”
“Oh, well-well that’s good,” Willow said, looking at her girlfriend quizzically.
“Why would there be blood during a hair cut?” Anya asked.
Tara shook her head. “Don’t ask, but trust me, never walk up to Buffy with a pair of scissors in your hand.”
“Did she hurt you?” Giles asked, sharply.
“Oh, she didn’t hurt us. Spike saved us. She bit him,” Dawn said.
”She bit you?” Giles asked.
“That’s very sexual for her to do. Vampires like biting, makes them horny. I used to know this vampire who-“ Anya’s sentence was cut off by Xander’s hand going over her mouth.
“Ahn, never use the words sexual, biting, and vampires in a sentence in reference to Spike every again,” Xander said.
“But I was going to talk about a different vampire,” she insisted, pouting and crossing her arms.
“Never again, Ahn.”
“Fine, just for that, I’m not going to bite you ever. And it can feel really good if done correctly, but now you’ll never know.”
“Well, Xander. I guess your life will never be complete. You will never know the feel of Anya’s teeth in your skin. Whatever will you do?” Willow said, rolling her eyes.
“See, I told you she talks to me meanly. You just didn’t believe me,” Anya whispered loudly to Xander.
“I do not talk to you meanly,” Willow protested.
“Could we not go there right now?” Xander pleaded, looking between his girlfriend and his best friend. “We have fun prophecies to look up, right Giles? And-is Buffy peeing on the rug?”
“You spent over three hours with her in the bathroom, and not once did you consider showing her how to use a toilet?” Giles sputtered.
“Guess it slipped our mind,” Dawn said.
“It slipped-it slipped your mind?” Giles was cleaning his glasses so hard that he looked about to break them.
“S-s-s-sorry G-g-giles. I-I’ll c-clean it up and s-s-show her,” Tara blushed red.
“No, it’s not your fault,” Spike said, finally speaking up. “You did the best you could, pet.” He gently patted Tara on the arm before turning to the group. “Look, this thing going on here, it’s not going to be fun and it’s not going to be pretty, but you’re her mates and you should help her and love her and all that rot for how she is. I mean, she was in bloody Hell for Christ’s sake, a Hell that she went to trying to save your skins. So, yeah she’s a little off her noodle, but we-you’ll fix her and make her all right and well so that she can save the world for…orphans and kittens and all that’s bloody good in the world.”
“Gee Spike, almost sounded like you cared for a minute. Better watch that, big bad,” Xander snarked. “But then again, you like crazy girls, don’t you. Probably think this gives you a better chance with Buffy…and what were you doing upstairs with Buffy?”
“I would watch my mouth if I were you,” Spike snarled, moving toward Xander.
“Why? What are you going to do, talk me to death? And again I ask, what the hell were you doing upstairs? Trying to take advantage?” Xander retorted, moving forward as well.
“NO!” Buffy yelled, throwing herself between them. “No, Spike. No, Xander.”
“’S all right, luv,” Spike replied, stepping away.
“No,” she repeated.
“But Buffy, he’s an evil, soulless monster. He tried to see you naked,” Xander protested.
Buffy cocked her head to one said, like she was concentrating hard. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth and tangled her fingers in her hair. “Soulless,” she muttered more to herself then anyone else. “Soulless…soulless…soul…” Buffy leaned over and placed her hand on Xander’s chest, right over his heart. “No soul,” she muttered and made a staking motion with her hand.
“That’s right Buffy,” Giles said, encouragingly. “You are a Vampire Slayer, the one girl chosen in the whole world.”
“Except for Faith, cause she’s a Slayer too,” Anya added helpfully.
“Don’t confuse her,” Dawn snapped.
“I’m just trying to help,” Anya protested. “How am I not helping? I don’t understand.”
“You’re just not,” Dawn replied.
“M-Maybe less with things that might be c-confusing to her, m-more with the simple stuff,” Tara offered.
“Okay,” Anya smiled cheerily and walked out of the room. She returned holding a wooden stake that had been left in the kitchen. “Look Buffy, stake. Your weapon of choice. See, stake.”
Buffy turned her attention off of Xander and examined the piece of wood in Anya’s hand. “Stake,” she said softly.
“Yep, straight to the heart, nothing but dust,” Anya chirped.
“Heart…dust…no…soul…” Buffy appeared to be mesmerized by the stake. She picked it up and ran her fingers over it, turning it around in her hand. Buffy slid into a fighting stance, moving the stake around as though she was sparing with someone.
Spike hesitated a moment before stepping in front of her. The thought of ‘crazy Slayer with stake’ ran briefly through his head, but he was pretty sure that he could hold her off. Buffy stopped moving and waited for him to get into stance before swinging out with her leg. Spike caught it and pushed it backwards making her have to do a back hand spring to save her balance. He rushed forward, but she blocked him putting her fist square in his stomach. Spike stumbled back, but hit Buffy with an upper cut to the chin. She backed up and squatted down, eyeing him intently. Spike paused, confused in her action. He moved out of fighting stance and looked around at the others for help right as Buffy sprung into motion. She hit his shoulders square on causing him to fall backwards with Buffy straddling his waist. She held the stake above his chest.
“No soul. Stake, heart, dust,” she said and plunged the stake downward. “Done.”
| | | | |
| Longer Then Forever - Chapter 7 | | | | - - abc + | | | Chapter 7
She was so confused…and frustrated. The more she tried to remember things, the more she felt like the answers slipped away. She could hold an image for a brief moment before it completely vanished from her mind. If she concentrated hard enough, she could understand bits of what the people were saying, but they spoke to fast. The worst part was she knew that at some point in her life she would have understood exactly what was going on.
When they had led her to the second floor, the pictures had caught her eye. More things that she should know, images of her and Dawn captured on paper. She wanted to touch them, feel them, absorb the knowledge they contained, but clear, hard surfaces blocked her finger.
Tara and Dawn had pulled her into a small room and made water appear out of thin air. Well that was interesting. They tried to take off Spike’s jacket. That wasn’t happening. He had given it to her and she was going to keep it. It was soft and warm and smelled like him. Weird smells that were as oddly familiar as everything else around her. The girls yelled and Spike appeared at her side. Gently, he coaxed her out of the jacket and into the water. She closed her eyes, murmuring softly. The water felt good.
Spike gently began to wash the mud off. At first she was afraid, the mud was her protection, her covering. His hand felt good against her skin and she relaxed. Behind her, Tara and Dawn began to chat agitatedly and then they left. Spike’s hand had run across an area of skin that made her shiver. A moan came out of the back of her throat and her eyes rolled in the back of her head. That felt amazing, and that sound…was that from her? He started to move his hand away and she panicked, grabbing it and trying to force him back to that same spot. She hadn’t felt that good in…well, ever as far as she knew. He chuckled against her ear and his lips brushed her neck as he whispered to her.
She sat perfectly still as he poured a cold, cream over her head and massaged it into her scalp. Then there was a slight tugging at her head. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable. She heard Tara come back into the room and start to tug on the other side of her head. It felt like they had been tugging at her forever, and she started to squirm in the now cold water. Finally, hands helped her to stand up and she was wrapped in softness. She buried her nose in it, trying to figure out why the smell comforted her. An image of a woman with curly hair and a smile flashed through her mind.
Tara was trying to put things on her. Things that stuck to her damp body and made her feel constricted. She tried to take them off, only to have Tara put them back on again. They compromised and Buffy was left with something over the top of her body. Her hair was dripping down the back of it, making it wet and uncomfortable.
Bored, she amused herself but drawing pictures of herself and Moyra in the steam on the mirror. Moyra. She missed him. She started to draw the pictures from her dreams, but stopped when she realized that she was, in a way, living in her dream. That thought scared her. What if this was another dream? What if she woke up in her cave? Alone?
She let Tara guide her to a sitting stool while she contemplated this latest thought, and then watched a Tara came at her from behind with the sharp object. Instinct kicked in, and she had Tara pinned to the wall in a moment. Dawn was screaming and yanking at her side. Even Spike appeared angry. Didn’t he understand that Tara was trying to kill her? When he grabbed her and forced her back, she thought that he was against her too. Desperately she tried to get out of his grip, but instead of letting go, he crushed his lips against her.
Her mind stopped working. Her last thought was that he was going to suffocate her, and she latched on to him with her teeth. He growled lowly against her and she relaxed. She opened her mouth and he slipped inside, massaging her, making all kinds of strange sensations shoot through out her body. His hands were moving over her and she leaned into his touch. He pulled away too soon. With a whimper, she tried to pull him back. He was like nothing she had every experienced before and she never wanted it to stop.
It was the red stuff that finally made her hesitate. She watched in fascination as he licked it off his lips. Her hand wiped the red stuff off her face and she stared at it curiously.
“Blood,” Spike said.
Blood. The red stuff had a name. It was called blood. She brought it to her lips to lick away, but Spike stopped her. No. No meant not to do something. She understood that. Spike was talking again, pointing at Tara and showing her hair. Oh, Tara was going to fix her hair. She smiled at her new found knowledge and sat back down on the sitting stool. Carefully, she repeated what Spike had told her and was delighted when Tara nodded.
She watched the growing pile of hair on the floor until Tara tapped her shoulder, letting her know that she was done. She ran her fingers through the shorten locks, amazed at how light it felt. Dawn led her in front of the mirror, and Buffy giggled at the reflection of herself. She looked around for Spike-he wasn’t in the mirror-and found him outside the door. She tried to wave him in front of the mirror, but he shook his head no.
Tara and Dawn led her to the stairs again and toward the argumentative group below. Conversation stopped as she appeared. They were talking too fast for her, but when Willow pointed at her hair and smiled, Buffy knew right away what she was saying.
“Tara cut,” she said proudly. “No Blood.”
There was more talking that she didn’t understand, and harsh looks being thrown about. No one was paying any attention to her, which was good because she really had to relieve herself. She glanced around the room looking for a good spot, and briefly wondered where the others went because the cave didn’t smell like urine. Maybe they went outside. Well, she wasn’t going to interrupt and ask. She had to go too badly.
They had stopped talking and were looking at her. Great. She’d messed up again. Now they were yelling again. Giles was yelling at Tara and Spike was standing in front of her. Anya finally huffed out of the room and returned with a killing stick in her hand. She handed it over.
“Stake.”
Stake. Not killing stick, a stake. She knew this. She worked with this. As she moved, she started to remember things.
“Soul…soulless…evil…stake…heart…dust,” ran through her mind. It didn’t surprise her when Spike took up a fighting stance opposite her. Their fight was familiar. She knew all the steps to this…dance. They were dancing. Another word ran through her mind. Slayer. This was what she did. Stake to the heart equals dust. She remembered this, remembered fighting with Spike sometimes to hurt sometimes not. Somehow she knew the times for hurting were long gone, saw it in his eyes.
The line kept running through her head. Soulless, evil, stake to the heart, dust. It was on repeat and she couldn’t figure out why. Something (close your eyes) tugging at the ends of her memory, something (close your eyes) that she couldn’t quite grasp. She hadn’t realized that she had stopped fighting and was in a crouched position looking up at Spike. He looked to the group, confused and she took the moment to catch him by surprise. Fight over, she won.
XXX
Spike lay on the floor in shock at the stake that was flying toward his heart. His eyes bore into Buffy’s in surprise. At the last possible second, the stake detoured to the floor.
“Slayed. Dust now,” Buffy said as she got up.
Spike propped himself up on his elbows and stared at her. “That wasn’t funny, luv.”
Xander raised his hand. “Actually, I found that very amusing.”
“Well, good thing no one asked for your opinion then,” Spike muttered.
“Well, at least she remembers how to fight,” Giles said.
“Yes, and I was the one who gave her the stake. I think you should all remember that,” Anya said.
“Yes, yes, we won’t forget that,” Giles replied.
“Okay, good. As long as I get credit,” Anya told him. “I’m tired. Can Xander take me home now?”
Dawn tried to stifle a yawn, but Willow saw it. “Yeah, I think it’s bedtime for all of us.”
“I’m not tired,” Dawn protested.
“Oh, sure. So that wasn’t a yawn, you were getting ready to practice your yodeling, right?” Tara teased.
“Yep, I am yodeling girl,” Dawn replied.
“Well, yodelay yourself on up to bed then,” Willow said, gently pushing Dawn toward the stairs.
“M’kay. Just one thing though.” And with that, Dawn ran over to her sister and threw her arms around her. “Missed you, Buffy.”
“Dawn.” Buffy slowly brought her hand up to Dawn’s hair and ghosted over it. Then she picked up each of Dawn’s arms, turned them over, and placed chaste kisses on the wrists. “No blood,” she whispered.
The whole room went silent as they watched the exchange.
“No, Buffy,” Dawn said, tears sliding down her face. “No b-blood. Good night.” Dawn turned and ran up the stairs.
“Wow! That was just…wow!” Willow breathed.
“I think…I think we should all get some rest. Tomorrow we should focus on helping to re-assimilate Buffy into our society,” Giles announced.
“Are we also going to try and figure out where she was? ‘Cause maybe that will help us help her?” Tara said.
“Yes…I think we shall break into groups. One group working with Buffy and the other doing research,” Giles said, rubbing his eyes.
“I’ll help Buffy. I’m good at that. I helped her with the stake,” Anya announced as she dragged Xander to the door. “Goodnight all!”
Xander managed a quick call of “night” before disappearing out the door. Giles followed him biding the girls and Spike goodnight.
“Spike, you’re welcome to stay here on the couch if you like,” Tara offered.
“Thanks, Glinda.” Spike was watching Buffy. Her eyes were still focused on where Dawn had run up the stairs and he wondered what she was thinking.
“I’ll find sheets,” Willow said and walked upstairs as Tara began to struggle with the pull out couch.
“Sorry, pet, lemme help.” Spike bent down and pulled the bed out in one smooth motion.
“Oh, thanks. I-I’ll get the curtains.”
“Sorry Spike. All we have is some old Strawberry Shortcake sheets. Hope they’ll do,” Willow said, holding the sheets up for inspection.
She and Tara quickly set the bed up.
“Okay, you should be good. The curtains are closed and I locked the door, so no one will come in unannounced,” Willow said. “Oh, plus I put a little spell on the curtains so that no one can open them unless I say so.”
“Thanks, Red, ‘ppreciate it.” Spike sat down on the lumpy bed and watched Tara try to coax Buffy upstairs. She hesitated for a moment, looking over to Spike, but finally followed the girl up the stairs. Spike curled up on the bed and pulled a pillow into his arms. He inhaled the scent of the sheets deeply. The sheets must have been Buffy’s at one point because he could faintly detect her smell on them. There were other scents on there as well, but none that he could pick up on. It would be awhile before sleep claimed him. His mind kept replaying the events of the night. Especially the kiss he and Buffy had shared. He groaned as he grew hard at the memory of his tongue brushing against hers. Desperately he tried to adjust himself into a different position, but his mind became focused on her moan when his fingers had accidentally brushed against her. It was going to be a long night.
XXX
Buffy followed Tara back up the stairs. At first she thought they would go back into the room with the water, but Tara turned into a different doorway.
“Bedroom,” Tara said slowly. “Buffy’s bedroom. Your bedroom.”
“Bed-room,” Buffy repeated slowly as she walked around the room. She sat down on the bed. Soft, so soft. She brought the pillow up to her nose and inhaled. It smelled familiar. She brought her hair to her nose and sniffed. Oh, same smell. She held the pillow against her head.
Tara giggled and walked over. She pulled the covers down and climbed into the bed, demonstrating how to lie down. Buffy followed her example, but sat up again when Tara got up.
“No, this is your room Buffy. Mine is next door,” Tara motioned with her hand. She watched as Buffy lay back on the bed. “Night. Willow and I are next door if you need us.”
Buffy watched as Tara left the room. “Bedroom,” she repeated to herself. “Buffy bedroom.” She stood up and started to walk around the room. There was another door that led to a small room filled with things similar to what she was wearing. She started to pull them out to inspect them. Some of them were pretty and she put them on. Hmm, they made it hard to move.
Her stomach started to make noises just a she made it over to the dresser. She needed to find food. Slowly, she opened the door and stepped into the hall. It was completely dark. She followed the wall to the stairs and walked down. There was a weird noise coming from the place where Spike was, and she crept closer to him. She heard him whisper her name.
“Spike,” she answered.
He sat up, his eyes wide with surprised. “Buffy, er, luv, what are you doing up?” he asked as he took in her appearance. She had on three shirts and a dress.
She cocked her head to one side and approached him, but he just pulled the blankets tighter around himself. She sighed and was about to say something when her stomach made the noise again.
“Oh,” Spike said. “Hungry, are ya? Well, best see what we can find in the kitchen.” He fumbled under the blanket a second before getting out of bed and leading her into the kitchen. He nudged her into one of the stools at the island, and opened the fridge to pull out the pizza that Willow had ordered earlier and then forgot about. He warmed it in the microwave and set it in front of her. “Pizza,” he said. “Mushroom and pepperoni, your favorite.”
Buffy stared down at the three slices on her plate and then looked at him in confusion.
“You eat it,” Spike said. “Food, see.” He picked up a piece and bit into it. “You try.”
Buffy took the piece from him and sniffed it before taking a bite. A huge smile lit up her face as she swallowed, and she quickly set to work demolishing the several slices in front of her. When she had finished, Spike put her dishes in the sink and led her back to the stairs.
“Go back to bed now,” he said, gently pushing her toward the stairs. Buffy didn’t move. “Come on, luv, time for all good Slayers to go nighty night.”
Buffy grabbed his hand. “Buffy room,” she said, tugging slightly.
“You want…you want me to go with you to your room?”
“Buffy room,” she insisted and pulled him up the stairs with her.
Spike swallowed thickly, but followed her into the room. Oh, bloody hell, she was pulling him into bed with her. “Wait, luv…”
Buffy smiled and began to take off her clothing.
“Oh, hell,” Spike closed his eyes. When he opened them, Buffy was lying naked under the covers. She gestured at him to come closer, and he slid onto the bed next to her. He paused a moment, wondering if he should leave his jeans on. She probably wasn’t ready to deal with the, er, any of that yet, but there she was tugging at his waist. “Uh, Buffy, not that I don’t want to ‘cause you know, evil vamp and all, not feeling much guilt about this, but…oh, sod it.” He unzipped his jeans and kicked them onto the floor.
Buffy looked at him in curiosity. She ran a finger down his pale chest, and delighted in the small noise he made in the back of his throat. Her fingers continued the exploration, and Buffy watched the way Spike bit his lip when she touched certain areas. She remember how good it felt when he had touched her inner thigh, and brushed her hand over his.
“God, Buffy,” Spike moaned, thrusting into her a bit.
She leaned forward and pushed her lips against his, and he responded by pulling her close to him. His tongue gently slid its way into her mouth as his hands trailed up and down her body. It felt so good and she wanted nothing more then to let it continue, but the whole day had finally taken its toll.
Spike didn’t know what to think when she stopped kissing him and pushed him onto his back. He knew this whole thing was wrong but he’d waited so long and it felt so good, better then any of his fantasies. His golden goddess was next to him and he could smell her, taste her, and if he got any harder, his dick was going to fall off.
Buffy leaned over him and kissed his lips again. Spike lifted his hand so that he could hold her head to his, but the kiss was over too quickly. She smiled at him before curling up on her side, tucking her head under his chin, and draping one arm across his chest. Her breathing quickly evened out and Spike realized that she had fallen asleep. He bit back a groan of disappointment and wrapped his arm around her. He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled deeply. She smelled good. His fingers stroked down her hair and across her neck. What the…Spike frowned and brushed the hair off her neck. There were two tiny pin prick scars on her neck. They looked like bite marks. Why the hell did Buffy have bite marks?
XXX
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 8 | | | | - - abc + | | | A/N: Okay, the title of this fic is Longer, Then Forever and while I appreciate how some of you have tried to nicely tell me that I mean than (and I don’t appreciate those of you that got snarky with me), I promise that I do know the difference between then and than. Huked on fonix worked fer me! (No offense to those who are, um, whatever the politically correct term for people who have difficulty with spelling and grammar). Anyway, I have had a bad few days and the upcoming ones aren’t looking very promising, so even though this is one of the more boring chapters of the fic (boring, but needs to be out there), please leave a few kind words to brighten my day. Wow, this is the longest author’s note I’ve ever left…
Chapter 8
She was standing in a graveyard facing a mirror image of herself.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m you…or you’re me, I’m not so sure how this whole thing works,” the other Buffy replied.
“And I can understand what you’re saying.”
“Well, duh. Hello dream world here,” the other her smirked.
“Oookay, well then, oh great dream weaver, why am I here?”
The other Buffy shrugged. “Why not? You have somewhere more important to be? ‘Sides the great Powers That Be have decided to do a little explaining…” she frowned for a moment. “Not that you’ll really remember any of this when you wake up.”
“So what’s the point?”
“Look, I wish I could just be all explaining girl and then you’d wake up and everything would be all hunky dory, but the Powers don’t work that way…even when it’s their screw up that you’re living. So, I’m gonna tell you what happened and then you’ll wake up and remember nothing…although I think you’ll get little memory zaps from time to time.”
“Little what zaps?” That didn’t sound like fun.
“You know, little memories that just pop up in your head or things that you suddenly remember how to do…like using a toilet cause peeing on the rug is so not cool.” The other Buffy clapped her hands together. “Okay, so let’s recap. You jumped into swirling votexy thingy expecting to die, but you didn’t die. So, why didn’t you die is the question you are asking yourself. Well, it seems that your services are still required on this realm and, well, not so useful if you’re dead. So, you were supposed to be sent to a different dimension for a short period of time until you were needed, but somebody in the higher realm messed up.
“ Seems there was this HUGE screw up where some future higher being got sent into some Hell dimension and all the Powers were working on getting her back and…well, forgot to pay attention to what you were doing. At the last possible second, like the second you jumped, they noticed their mistake and tossed you into the first dimension they could find, hence the whole ‘beginning of rainbowland’ scenario thing.”
“So you’re saying that I spend how many years in Hell because of a mistake?!”
“147 years. You were there for 147 years…hence the cave-like Buffy thing going on here, and hey, for 167 you sure look good.”
“Okay, so what’s the plan then? ‘Cause I’m assuming there’s a purpose or a prophecy to all this?” She crossed her arms.
“Isn’t there always?” The other her grinned. “Of course, I can’t tell you what it is. You have to figure it out yourself.”
“Great!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. “Even dream me talks in riddles. Why am I in this stupid dream anyway?”
“To remember one thing,” the other her said, moving closer to whisper in her ear. “Telemalta.”
XXX
She woke up slowly, unsure of her surroundings. There was a set of muscular arms wrapped securely around her, an unmoving chest pillowed her head, and her legs were entwined with another set. This wasn’t her cave. She was warm, covered in soft cloth, and she wasn’t afraid. Normally she awoke in terror from her dreams, but not today. She felt…safe, secure even.
A hand came up to stroke her hair, and she nuzzled her face against her pillow. She never wanted to leave this place.
“You awake then, luv?” Spike smiled down at her.
“Spike?” she sat up with a frown on her face.
“Yeah,” he answered. Did she regret waking up with him?
“T-telemalta,” she said.
“Telemalta?”
Buffy nodded, excitedly.
“I don’t understand, luv.”
Buffy sighed at his look of confusion. She lay back down on the bed and closed her eyes. Then she pointed at her head. “Telemalta,” she repeated.
“Is-is that where you were?”
“Telemalta,” Buffy said again.
“Yes, yes I get it. Bloody telemalta, but I don’t know what you mean?” Spike ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.
A knock at the door interrupted them. “Buffy, you awake? I brought-OH!” Dawn’s face turned bright red at the sight of the naked Slayer and vampire in bed.
“’T’s all right, bit. Completely innocent here,” Spike tried to assure her. He slid out of the bed, wrapping a sheet around his hips, and collected his clothes. “I’ll just, uh, get out of yer, er, hair.”
“Uh-huh, sooooo if you catch me naked in bed with a boy will you believe me if I tell you it’s ‘completely innocent’?”
“You better bloody well believe I will not. Twist the boy’s head off and drink from his-“
“Spinal cord, yeah I’ve heard it.”
“Well, I will,” Spike muttered and left the room.
“Buffy, Buffy, Buffy,” Dawn said sitting next to her sister on the bed.
“Telemalta,” Buffy replied.
“Um, sure. So anyway, I brought you some books to look at. See, Everybody Poops. I used to love this book,” Dawn frowned a moment. “Well, I remember loving it. Anyways, so Tara has, like, this whole schedule worked out for you. She’s going to teach you grooming stuff and Willow’s gonna teach you school stuff and Giles will do fighting,” she was clicking the items off on her fingers as she spoke. “Oh, and I get to do photo albumy stuff. You know, talk about Mom and Dad and stuff.”
Buffy had started flipping through the book, staring at the pictures. Her eyebrows were scrunched together as she turned the book on its side, then upside down, the right side up.
“Um, so yeah. I’ll let you get to it. Uh, Tara should be here in a minute,” Dawn muttered quickly as she stood to leave. This wasn’t how she pictured any of this. She thought that when Buffy came back she’d be, well, Buffy. This was like a cave person. Dawn cringed as a small thought flitted through her head that maybe it had been better with Buffy not here. Okay, so maybe that was really just a jealousy thing cause of the whole finding Spike and Buffy in bed together…naked. Spike was hers. Okay, maybe not hers in the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing, but she had been friends with Spike waaaaay before her sister even thought about him. Dawn stopped abruptly in the hallway. What was she doing? She’d spent all summer crying about the disappearance of her sister and now that her sister was back, she was complaining about it. Okay, bad Dawn. Must try to be more understanding. Yeah, understanding. That should do it.
XXX
Tara arrived a few minutes after Dawn and began patiently taking Buffy through her daily routine. Luckily, the girl seemed eager to learn and loved to be patted on the back when she did something right. That was something that Tara was noticing more and more of, Buffy’s need for personal contact. She was always trying to touch things, feel them, as though her fingers remembered more then her memory. Tara wondered how long the girl had been without the simple comfort of another’s touch.
The two girls made it downstairs just as Xander and Anya came stumbling through the front door.
“I don’t understand why we are here so early,” Anya said, closing the door behind her. “Buffy’s back so research can definitely have a later starting time.”
“We’re here because we have to figure out how to get the old Buffy back,” Xander said. “You know the not so cave-like Buffy.”
Willow came out from the kitchen at the sound of the voices. “Oh good, I was just getting some material together for Buffy to work on as soon as she eats. I thought starting off with some Dr. Seuss stuff or something…You don’t think that’s to babyish, do you?” she asked her girlfriend worriedly.
“No, she picks up pretty fast as long as you go slow,” Tara said. “Oh, and she likes it if you kinda touch her a lot, you know? I-I don’t think she’s had too much of that in a long time.”
“Oh, okay. Lots of touching, got it…like hugs and stuff? Cause, you know, not wanting to get all tossed over her shoulder or anything,” Willow said.
Tara walked up behind Buffy and began slowly stroking her hair, “Buffy, you did such a great job this morning. I’m very proud of you.”
The group watched in awe as Buffy closed her eyes and leaned back into Tara’s touch.
“Do you want to tell everyone what you did today?” Tara asked. “First we, what, your teeth?”
“Buffy brush teeth with paste.”
“Yes, we brushed your teeth with toothpaste. Then what did we do?”
“Buffy brush hair…Not Buffy. Me…I? I brush hair?” Buffy looked over her shoulder at Tara in confusion.
“That’s right,” Tara smiled at the girl and patted her on the arm. “Then what?”
“I…get clothes? Now get…fooding eat?”
“I think she means food to eat,” Anya said helpfully. “Foood toooo eeeeeeat,” she said, bending over to look Buffy in the eye. She said each word slowly, pursing her lips together and smiling brightly. Buffy just stared at her as Anya then patted the blonde on the head before turning back to Xander. “See I was helpful. Now, I’m going to go open the store. Bye.” She paused to kiss Xander on the lips before leaving the house, letting the door bang shut behind her.
“You know, I think she’s really growing as a person,” Dawn said dryly as she cut up the pancakes on her plate.
Buffy tried to emulate how the others were eating their pancakes, and managing to be slightly successful until one of the pancakes fell apart on her fork and dropped into her lap. She tried to pick the pancake off her lap with her fork and succeeded in smearing it into her clothes.
“Buffy, pick it up with your fingers,” Dawn instructed.
“Dawnie, you have to show her,” Tara said.
Buffy let out a little whimper and held out the syrup smeared clothes to Tara. “Messy, bessy, Buffy girl,” she said.
“Ookay, what does that mean?” Xander asked.
“It’s something Mom used to say to use when we were little,” Dawn said. “Messy, bessy, Buffy girl and Dirty, girlie Dawn.”
“She must have remembered it,” Willow said. “It’s okay Buffy. We’ll get you clean clothes.”
Buffy looked around the kitchen and sighed, before pushing back from the table. She stood in the middle of the kitchen with her eyes closed for a moment before pulling open the basement door and heading downstairs.
“Now what’s she doing?” Xander asked, exasperated.
“Spike?” Buffy asked softly.
He was curled up on a cot in the corner of the basement, his back toward the stairs. It had been too nosy for him to sleep in the living room. When he heard her voice, Spike rolled over. “’S’matter luv?”
She didn’t say anything, just stood at the edge of the cot until he moved over to make room for her. Buffy made a murmuring noise in the back of her throat as she curled up next to him. She lay facing him, eyes open, just staring as he wrapped his arm around her waist. Touching her. She still couldn’t get over the miracle of people touching her, and Spike, his touch was the best of all. It sent electric tingles all over her body. It made her want to…well, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, just that she wanted him to never stop touching her.
“You still tired?” he asked.
Buffy reached out and traced her fingers over his face. She wondered if her touch did the same things to him, and smiled when he shut his eyes and released a small sigh. As he leaned into her touch, Buffy let out a small giggle.
Spike opened his eyes and cocked his eyebrow at her. “Something funny, Slayer?”
“Sshhh, dancing,” Buffy answered.
“Buffy! Buffy, what are you doing down there?” Willow called from the top of the stairs. “Giles is here and he wants to talk to you…Spike, can you bring her up?”
“Yeah, Red.” He called back. “Seems like we’re always getting interrupted, huh?” he said to Buffy.
Buffy let out a sigh, but let Spike guide her back up the stairs where they caught the tail end of an argument.
“…with evil dead in the basement?” Xander said.
“Xander, how could you? Spike was instrumental when Buffy was gone. Between the patrolling and-and the researching and the-the paying of the bills. Did you even know we had bills? I didn’t. I mean, I figured that we would but I never saw them. I was all in the ‘we need to research and save Buffy’ mode. We could have lost her house! We-we could have lost Dawn!” Willow’s face was as red as her hair.
“Hey! I’m not a kid here. It’s not like I would have wander off, you know,” Dawn said, hotly.
“Um, I think she means lost in more of a ‘the government comes and takes you away’ thing, sweetie,” Tara said.
“Oh, I knew that.”
“Stop! Stop right the instant every one of you,” Giles said, ripping his glasses off his face and pressing his hand over his eyes. “I’ll admit that I wasn’t Spike’s biggest fan in the beginning of this, but I think that he has earned a right to be here. He has proven his reliability and his loyalty. Now can we stop this nonsense? We have so much to cover here.”
“Fine…fine, but I don’t want to have to say ‘I told you so’ later, okay?” Xander said plopping himself in a chair and heaving a sigh.
“And we don’t want to hear you say ‘I told you so’ either,” Giles muttered. “Now where are-Spike, Buffy so good to see you today.” A large smile spread on his face at the sight of the vampire and Slayer walking through the basement door. He had no doubt they heard ever word of what had just happened.
“Slayer keeps repeating a word. Seems like it came to her in a dream or something. Least that’s how it appears to me. Think we should look into it,” Spike mumbled.
“O-Of course. Buffy, would you like to tell us about your dream?” Giles asked, clasping his hands together and leaning forward as though he were talking to a little kid.
“She’s not a little kid,” Spike said sternly. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
“Oh, er, right, um-“
“Telemalta,” Buffy said, effectively cutting Giles off.
“Is-is that it? One word?” Willow asked.
Buffy nodded. “Telemalta,” she repeated.
“Oh, okay. Well,” Willow trailed off.
“Why don’t we get started researching, and you can start working with Buffy on her reading and such,” Tara suggested.
“Not me, I have plans with Janice,” Dawn muttered and was out the door before anyone could reply.
“Okay, is it me or has she been acting weird lately?” Xander asked raising his hand in the air.
“ ‘ll talk to her later, let’s research,” Spike said, grabbing the nearest book.
Willow slid the book in her hands over to where Buffy could see, and used her best little kid voice. “Here, Buffy. We are going to read, um, ‘The Flower Fairies Alphabet.’ You’ll love it, all the letters that form the words that we speak. Just twenty-six letters, that’s all you need. Isn’t that amazing?”
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 9 | | | | - - abc + | | | 
Author’s Note: Look an update! Sorry that this took so long, but, um, yeah, sorta had emergency surgery. So….this was delayed…a bit…I’ll try to keep that from happening again. Special thanks to everyone who e-mailed me cheerful thoughts and to Addie Logan, my fabulous beta.
XXX
Chapter 9
Dawn kicked a stone across the street as she tried to sort out the feelings that were running through her head. She was glad that Buffy was back, wasn’t she? So why did she have all these weird feelings in her stomach? Was it finding Buffy and Spike together? Was she jealous? She’d had Spike’s attention mostly to herself all summer, except for the researching about Buffy.
“You look like a girl with a problem.”
Dawn’s head jerked up to face the girl who had spoken to her. She was the same height as Dawn with jet black hair and bright green eyes and was wearing black jeans with a black baby tee that had a large picture of cherries on it.
“Cat got your tongue?” the girl asked.
“Who are you and why are you talking to me?” Dawn asked crossing her arms over her chest.
“My bad. Thought you needed a friend, guess not.” The girl turned to walk away.
“Wait, um, w-why haven’t I seen you around here before?” Dawn asked.
“You have, you just never paid any attention to me before.”
Dawn looked confused as she racked her brain trying to figure out what the girl was talking about.
The girl sighed exasperated, “Brianna Taylor…Summers, Taylor…Come on, I’ve sat behind you for the past three years, not that you’ve noticed.”
“Oh, I’m…sorry…” Dawn started.
“Don’t sweat it, I mean, no one else has noticed me since I moved here. Might as well be invisible in this town,” Brianna said. “Now look, I’m tryin’ to be nice here. You look like a girl who needs to talk and I’m a girl with no friends… or life so I figure that we make a great pair…unless you have other plans.”
Dawn thought of Janice briefly before shaking her head no.
“Great, let’s motor.”
XXX
“I can’t find this bloody word in any of these books,” Giles said, slamming his book shut.
“Well, maybe we could try online?” Willow suggested.
“Under what, www.prophecydeciphering.com?” Xander asked.
“What are you doing, luv?” Spike asked, looking over Buffy’s shoulders at the pictures she was drawing.
“Oh, I t-thought that maybe drawing her feelings might help her, you know like how those psychologists have traumatized children do,” Tara said, shifting some of Buffy’s pictures around so that Spike could see them better. “They’re kinda, um, nightmarey, aren’t they?”
“That they are,” Spike murmured picking up the picture on the top of the pile. It was done mostly in blacks and grays but the face of the creature was in blue with two red dots by the mouth. “What’s that, luv?” Spike pointed at the red dots.
Buffy shivered and her hand absentmindedly rubbed over the two pin pricks on her neck.
“Rupes, see if you can find a demon matching this picture,” Spike said, thrusting the drawing over to Giles. He kept his eyes on Buffy though. She was staring out the window, her hand still over her neck.
“Eek, looks like some super primitive vampire to me,” Xander said.
“Thank you, Xander. That was so helpful. You know, I think we need more donuts,” Giles said, thrusting some money at the brunette.
Xander made a face but took the money and headed for the door. “I think they’re going to be out of jellies today for that comment,” he muttered.
Giles pinched the bridge of his nose. “Willow, have you seen any pictures that look like this?” he asked.
Willow shook her head slowly. “Um, I don’t think so. I could double check though.”
“Here, might as well check ‘em all,” Spike said handing over the rest of the pictures.
XXX
Her head hurt. She had spent the whole morning repeating everything that anyone said to her in the hopes that she would remember. A, B, C, D, E…pounding, pounding in her brain…and that thought made her giggle, but she didn’t know why and that frustrated her again. When Tara had given her the colors and paper, she had been relieved. Maybe this would help them to understand her. She drew everything that she had seen. She drew her cave. She drew Moyra. She drew the creatures that hunted her and the ones that had hurt her. She drew the creatures she had killed and the fights she had won.
The tingly feeling came back and she realized that Spike was leaning over her shoulder, talking to her. She smiled. She wished he would stay near her all the time even if it made Xander angry, which she didn’t understand. Why did he get so angry? Maybe he liked having Spike near him too and didn’t want to share…but Anya seemed to like having Xander near and…her head hurt again.
Spike was picking up her pictures, pointing at them. She shuddered and rubbed her hand over the marks from the beast in the picture he held up. That creature had almost…
“One good day,” she whispered.
Spike whipped around, nearly tearing the pictures he was handing to Willow. He began speaking quickly and she couldn’t follow him. She put her hands on her head.
“One good day,” she repeated and whimpered as Spike growled harshly.
Giles and Willow were speaking loudly at Spike, while Tara attempted to pull her into an embrace but Buffy shook her off. She stood up from the table and ran out the door.
XXX
“So,” Brianna said as she sat down on a flat rock near the edge of the park. “What’s the deal?”
Dawn kicked a stone and wondered how she was going to explain what she was feeling without giving out to much information. “Um, okay, so this is going to sound majorly weird, but…I’ve just…”
“Been feeling off lately? Hate your family? Feel depressed? Come on, there isn’t much you can tell me that I haven’t felt before,” Brianna pushed.
Dawn smiled inwardly. There was a lot that she’d felt that Brianna could probably never fathom. “Yes, yes, and yes to all your questions. It’s just…okay, so it all started…wow, almost a year ago.” A year. She was almost one year old as a human. Her mother had been gone for almost a year. “My mother…she got sick and d-died.”
“Oh, wow. That sucks. I’m sorry.”
“Um, thanks. Anyway, my dad isn’t really into family and responsibility and all that so he let my older sister, Buffy, have custody of me.”
“Your sister’s name is Buffy?” Brianna let out a snicker. “I can’t believe that you have a sister named Buffy…Hey, wait a minute. She’s not that chick that everyone says blew up the old high school, is she?”
“Yeah, that was her.”
“Holy shit! Your sister must be so badass! I mean, not only did she go all Heathers on the school, but she got away with it!” Brianna had jumped up off the rock and was pacing around it. “I bet you get to get away with so much shit.”
Dawn grimaced. “Uh, not exactly. She’s kind of overprotective, and…” She trailed off.
“Oh, sorry. Is she a complete bitch? Spill. I promise not to interrupt again.” Brianna made an “X” over her heart with her index finger and sat back down on the rock.
“Okay, so about five months ago she…” Went to Hell. “Disappeared. I mean, completely vanished and no one knew where she went.”
“Oh, wow. Did she run away or was she kidnapped?”
“Um, kidnapped.”
“Seriously? How come I never saw it on the news or anything?” Brianna asked.
“Because, um, if we reported it, then I’d have to go live with my dad and I wanted to stay here in case she came back,” Dawn answered hesitantly.
“Oh, so who took care of you?”
“Buffy’s…friends. Mostly this guy named Spike.”
“Spike? Your sister, Buffy, has a friend named Spike?” Brianna paused a second. “Is she in a gang?”
“What?! No! I mean, have you seen my sister? She’s blond and skinny, she was a cheerleader and…spring queen or whatever…she’s so…perfect…”
“And that bothers you?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, we just found her finally and I should be happy, right? I mean, this is what I wanted for the past five months. I wanted my sister to come home. I wanted us to be a family again.”
“You and Buffy and Spike?” Brianna asked.
“Yeah, I mean, he’s been in love with her forever and she never even knew he was alive, but she’s so…different now. It’s like, she’s not even Buffy.”
“Well,” Brianna said slowly. “I would think that being kidnapped would have that effect on you. Was she…abused at all?”
Dawn played absentmindedly with a strand of her hair. “Yeah…a lot…She’s like a child now and everyone is trying to take care of her.”
“Especially Spike?”
“Yeah, and-and I should be happy, right? I mean, my sister is back and…I don’t know…I just feel…”
“Angry? Jealous? Upset? Hurt?” Brianna supplied.
“YES! All of that,” Dawn answered.
“Well, that’s natural.”
“It is?” Dawn asked.
“Well, yeah. I mean, your sister was dumb enough to go and get kidnapped, leaving you to fend for your own. Then she comes back and everyone forgets that you even exist in their attempt to help her, and no one even asks you how you feel, do they?” Brianna demanded.
“Well, no but-”
“Man, people piss me off.” Brianna interrupted. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a hand rolled cigarette, sticking it between her lips and lighting it. “Want some?”
“Uh, no. I don’t…
Brianna shrugged. “Suit yourself. More for me then…Hey, wanna hang out at my house?”
Dawn shrugged and followed Brianna out of the park.
XXX
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 10 | | | | - - abc + | | |
Chapter 10
Buffy only ran to the middle of the yard. She stood there feeling lost as she took in the neighborhood around her. With a sob, she collapsed to her knees as she felt the familiar swirl of memories flood her mind and disappear before she could grasp them. She ran her hand over the teeth marks on her neck again. They weren’t the only marks on her neck, but they were the only ones she remembered getting.
The beast had surprised her in her cave and pinned her down before she could react. It had lowered its mouth to her neck, letting its saliva drip down her face before sinking its teeth into her. For a moment she thought she was going to die and in that moment, she had been relieved, but a noise from outside the cave had startled the beast. She had been able to throw it off her while it had been distracted. When she stabbed it with her killing stick, it had turned to dust but not before it muttered “Slayer” at her.
“Buffy?”
She jerked her head up at the sound of Willow’s voice and a memory came to her. A memory came and stayed.
“Buffy?” Willow said softly as she knelt down next to her.
Buffy turned and grasped Willow’s arms. “C-cookies,” she said.
Willow stared at her, bewildered. “You want…you want cookies?”
Buffy shook her head, frustrated. “Cookies,” she insisted.
“Buffy, come inside and we’ll get you cookies,” Willow said.
Buffy sat back on her heels and covered her face with her hands. Her fingers wound themselves around the hair above her forehead.
“Buffy, please, I don’t understand.”
“What’s wrong?” Xander asked as he knelt beside them.
Willow turned to face him. “She-she keeps saying ‘cookies,’ but I don’t know why?”
“Is she hungry?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Willow’s voice reflected a tone of panic. “I offered her cookies, but she just keeps repeating it.”
“So you just sat down next to her and she said ‘cookies’?”
“YES!”
Xander paused a moment. “Well, you do make really good chocolate chip cookies.”
“Oh! Oh my goddess! I wonder if…Buffy,” she waited until the blonde was looking at her. “Do you remember when I made the cookies after I messed up the ‘will be done’ spell?”
Buffy stared at her.
“Um, I’m talking too fast, aren’t I? Uh, okay, so remember when I cast that spell? When Oz left? And, um, I made Giles blind and Xander was a demon magnet and, uh, you and Spike were engaged. And then, then I made chocolate chip cookies because I felt so guilty, is that it?” Willow tried.
“Cookies,” Buffy repeated.
“Oooooh, she doesn’t understand.”
“We could act it out,” Xander joked.
“That’s brilliant!” Willow cried.
“I was joking!”
“Let’s get her in the house,” Willow said. She stood and motioned for Buffy to follow. To Willow’s relief, she did. “You guys,” Willow said as she burst in through the back door. “I need us to act out the ‘will be done’ spell. I think Buffy had a memory.”
“What?” Giles asked.
“She keeps saying cookies and then Xander was like ‘oh well you make good chocolate chip cookies’ and remember how I made the cookies after the spell I messed up when
Oz left? I think she remembered that.” Willow was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. “But she doesn’t remember enough words to tell us what she means so Xander and I thought that if we act it out, then she can tell us if that’s what she meant.”
“O-Okay, so what do you want us to do?” Tara asked.
Willow smiled at her girlfriend. “I need you to pretend to be a monster and chase Xander. Giles, um, pretend to be blind again, and Spike, you need to ask Buffy to marry you.”
“Willow, are you sure this will work?” Giles asked.
“Well, it can’t hurt to try, right?”
Giles sighed. “Okay.” He covered his eyes with his left hand while he held his right hand in front of him. “Good lord, I can not see,” he deadpanned.
“Can see why that career in the theatre never worked out fer you,” Spike said.
Tara giggled uncharacteristically and then looked at Xander before raising her hands like claws and chasing after him. “Grr! Arrgh!” She laughed.
Willow pushed Buffy gently toward Spike. Nervously, Spike paced the room a few times before dropping on one knee in front of Buffy.
“Yes!” Buffy yelled. She turned and threw her arms around Willow’s neck. “Yes! Cookies!”
“And the point of all that was what?” Xander asked, panting slightly as he leaned against the wall.
“She remembered something,” Willow said. “Our Buffy is trying to come back to us.”
XXX
Dawn followed Brianna into the apartment building where she lived.
“Come on in, no one’s home right now,” Brianna said as she walked through the front door. “Want a drink or something?”
“No thanks,” Dawn muttered.
“My room’s this way.”
Dawn walked into Brianna’s room. The walls were painted a dark blue and the floors were a dark cherry wood, an overflowing ashtray sat on the nightstand next to the bed and there was a bookcase filled with odd books and trinkets. Dawn took in the sun and moon theme of the room as she walked over to the bookcase.
“You’re into magic?” she asked, surprised.
“Oh, yeah,” Brianna said, absentmindedly. “You?”
“Well, my friend, Anya, owns the Magic Box and my friends, Willow and Tara, are practicing witches,” Dawn answered.
“Coolness,” Brianna answered. “I go to the Magic Box all the time.”
“Really? I never see you there.”
Brianna grinned. “Well, that’s the point. I mean, it’s not like I can afford anything there.”
“Do you…steal there?”
“Why? You gonna tell your friend on me?” Brianna asked.
Dawn thought about the few things she had taken from the Magic Box and hidden in her jewelry box. “No.”
“You practice magic yourself?”
“Not really. I mean, I tried once or twice but Spike doesn’t really like me messing with magic.”
Brianna flopped down on her bed. “So tell me about this Spike guy. What’s he like? Is he hot?”
“Spike?” Dawn sat down on the bed next to Brianna. “I used to have a crush on him, when I was younger. Now he’s kinda like a big brother to me, you know? He takes care of me.”
“So, like, is he your sister’s boyfriend?”
Dawn shook her head. “No, he wants to be but…Buffy’s love life is complicated.”
“So how do you know him then?”
Dawn shrugged. “He’s just always been around since I was, like, nine or ten. Him and Buffy used to hate each other and I think he used to show up just to bother her ‘cause our mom adored him. Then one day, I dunno, I guess his feelings for her just changed, but she still hated him.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah…” Dawn trailed off.
“Hey, wanna try a spell?”
“What kind of spell?”
“Nothing big. Come on, it will be fun,” Brianna said, sliding off the bed. “It’s not like we’re going to invoke any spirits or send anyone to Hell.” Brianna placed on hand on either side of Dawn’s lap and held her face inches away from Dawn’s. “Come on…it’ll be…” She brushed Dawn’s nose with her own. “Fun.”
“I-I-I d-don’t…”
“Relax, I don’t either.” Brianna pulled back. “Come on Dawn. Life is about having fun. Don’t you ever get to have fun?”
Dawn was silent for a moment.
“Don’t you want to have fun?” Brianna asked. She stood back and held out her hand to Dawn. “Come on, let’s have fun.”
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 11 | | | | - - abc + | | |
Chapter 11
Dawn stood in the front yard trying to control her giggling. She felt amazing. Her whole body was tingling and all her senses seemed to be heightened. Quickly, she covered her mouth with her hand as she walked into the dark house.
“Where’ve you been?” Spike’s voice came out of the darkness.
“S-spike? Is that you? Whatcha doing in the dark?” Dawn giggled. “Are you using your vampire eyes to see me? You’re a vampire, did you know that?” She turned on the living room light. “Oh, there you are!”
Spike gritted his teeth together. “Where.have.you.been?”
“Out with Janice, I told you that.”
Spike slammed his hand on the stair he was sitting on. “Don’t you lie to me, Dawn! Janice called looking for you. You have been gone for two days! Rupert’s filed a missing persons report on you.”
Two days. Strange, it didn’t feel like two days. “Oh, well I was out. What do you care? You’re not my dad.”
“Oh, my goddess, Dawn! Where have you been? We were so worried,” Willow rushed into the house, sweeping the girl into a hug.
She was followed by Giles, Tara, Xander, and Anya. All looked exhausted.
“Good lord, Dawn. Where have you been?” Giles tiredly wiped his glass on his sweater.
Dawn laughed. “Good lord, Giles,” she said, mimicking his accent. “You better be careful that you don’t break your glasses.”
“Is she drunk?” Anya asked.
Willow held Dawn at arm’s length and studied her.
“It’s d-dark magics. It gives the feeling of being drunk,” Tara’s voice raised a bit on drunk, almost like she was asking a question.
“Oh, goddess,” Willow said. “I can feel it. Dawn, what have you been doing?”
“Nothing,” Dawn batted Willow’s hands away from her. “I was out with a friend having fun.”
“Who were you out with?” Willow asked.
“A friend, what does it matter?”
“Gee, Dawnie. A friend that uses dark magic and keeps you out for almost three days, causing everyone to panic…sounds like a friend for life,” Xander muttered.
“I don’t think that you should see this friend again. I think we should call her parents as well and discuss the dangers of the magic she is using,” Giles said. He paused a moment before adding, “I should also discuss the responsibilities of them calling us when you decided to spend a few days there. I have alerted the authorities and everything.”
“No! You are not calling her parents.”
“Dawn, she is messing with dark forces,” Giles insisted.
“And she could have hurt you,” Spike added.
“Hurt me or hurt Buffy?” Dawn asked. “Because that’s what it all comes down to, right? Buffy.” She giggled. “Buffy.Buffy.Buffy.”
“Hurt you,” Spike answered.
“Whatever,” Dawn said. “Is this interrogation over? I want to go to bed.” She pushed past Spike and started up the stairs.
“Dawn?” Buffy stood at the top of the stairs. “Dawn back.” Buffy ran down the stairs and threw her arms around Dawn. “Dawn back,” she repeated, running her hands through Dawn’s hair.
Dawn shoved Buffy back. “Get off me! Why do you care? You’re not my sister.”
“Dawn!” Willow exclaimed.
“What? She’s not. I’m not real.” Dawn ran up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door shut.
Buffy stood looking confused, but no one knew what to say.
“Red, can you and Glinda find a way to keep this girl away from Dawn?” Spike asked.
Willow glanced at Tara. “We can try, but…we couldn’t even get a locator spell to work. Whoever this girl is, she’s strong.”
“Scarily strong,” Tara added. “Especially if she’s Dawn’s age. She must come from a long line of witches or have someone helping her.”
“Anya, have you noticed anyone buying a large amount of items at the Magic Box that could be used for dark magic?” Giles asked.
“Any item can be used for good or dark magic,” Anya thought for a moment. “You know, when I did inventory last week I did notice that we were missing a few books, but I just thought that you had borrowed them. You did borrow them, didn’t you?”
“How many is a few?” Giles asked.
“Twenty or so,” Anya said. “Which is why I thought you borrowed them because there is no way that I wouldn’t notice someone walking out of the store with twenty books, plus I have wards up.”
“Twenty?! Why didn’t you tell me this? Oh, good lord. Do you have a list?”
“Of course I have a list, but how did someone get through the wards?”
“I sense…research,” Xander said. “I’ll get donuts.”
XXX
Buffy didn’t understand what was happening around her. Everyone was yelling and talking fast. She could pick up a word here or there but not enough to figure out what the problem was. Dawn was back, so why wasn’t everyone happy? Dawn could have been dead. That’s what happened. People disappeared and they were dead.
Spike walked over and tried to get her to go up the stairs, but she shrugged him off. She didn’t want to go to bed. She stood with her hands on her hips, her lips pursed together. Spike had seen this look many times over the past several days. He and Tara had jokingly called it the “remembering look” because it looked like Buffy was trying to remember something, and since remembering the “will be done” spell, she’d been remembering things a bit quicker. However, right now it was so reminiscent of her former self that he took a step back.
Buffy walked past him and sat down at the dining room table. She picked up a book and began flipping through it. The others slowly sat down with her and picked up their own books. Xander came back and dropped a white box on the table.
On her third book, Buffy came across a picture that looked like Moyra. Excitedly she grabbed Spike’s hand and began to point at the image.
“Moyra!” She yelled and laughed. “Moyra!”
“What’s that, luv?” Spike leaned over her shoulder to look. “Hey, Red come look at this. Looks like one of her pictures.”
Willow took the book from him and studied it.
“Wait, I’ll grab the picture,” Tara jumped up from the table and ran into the kitchen. “Here,” she said, returning to the room.
Willow took the picture and placed it next to the photo in the book.
“Well, Buffy’s no Michelangelo but I’d say that’s a match,” Xander said, looking at it over Willow’s shoulder.
Willow passed the book to Giles.
“The Pic-tak-la is most often found in the dimension of To’kien and by the standards of demons in that realm is considered benign. It is most easily identified by its strange vocal patterns and is an omnivore by nature. One of the few demons that imprints its family when born and tends to stay with its herd for the entirety of its life,” Giles read.
“The To’kien dimension,” Anya said. “That’s one of the worst Hell dimensions to be in. It’s second only to Qu’rthtok, which you can’t get to without causing a dimensional tear. So, I guess that makes To’kien the worst dimension. I have new respect for you, Buffy.” She looked at Buffy admirably.
“To’kien,” Willow read from a different book. “Know for its stormy skyline and multitude of unique demons. Mostly home to carnivore type demons, To’kien is in a constant state of war between the two main demon families Beshien and Rokmanushan. The two tribes have split the dimension in half, each controlling a section. The area in between is a type of neutral area and has been ruled for almost one hundred and fifty years by the Chosen one…Oh, my goddess!” She pushed the book at Giles.
“Good lord, it can’t be.” He stared down at the picture of Buffy.
“One hundred and fifty years…” Xander trailed off.
“That’s almost a year for each of our days.” Spike stared at Buffy who was pointing at the picture in the book and making excited noises.
“Where did you find this book?” Giles asked, looking at the cover.
“In the pile,” Willow answered. “Why?”
“I’ve never seen it before. Anya, is this from the Magic Box?”
Anya glanced at the book. “No, that book is very rare. There’s only two known in existence.”
“Three, actually.”
“No, two,” Anya insisted looking up at the unfamiliar voice. “Hey, who are you?”
“Anyanka, I’m hurt that you don’t remember me,” the man answered.
Spike growled. “Who are you and what are you doing in the Slayer’s house?”
“Better question would be what is a vampire doing in the Slayer’s house, but hey, we’re all friends here.” The man took a seat next to Buffy and propped his feet up on the table. “Slayer, what’s happenin’? Looking good for being 167.” He patted her on the head and Buffy stiffened and closed her eyes. “Sorry, where are my manners? Names Whistler, work for the Powers That Be.”
“Wait, you can actually get a job with the Powers That Be?” Xander asked. “How do you apply for that?”
Whistler looked Xander over. “You don’t, they come to you and, uh, they ain’t coming for you anytime soon. Now, your ex-girlfriend, Cordelia, we already got her employed.”
“Wait, Cordy gets to work for the Powers That Be and I don’t?! Where’s the fairness in that?” Xander asked.
“It’s not that great,” Whistler said. “The pays lousy, the hours suck, and they don’t give you dental.”
“Xander do be quiet,” Giles sighed. “Now, Mr. Whistler, please explain yourself.”
“Well, me and the Slayer go way back. Haven’t seen her since that nasty little episode with Angel and the First, but that was ‘bout 150 years ago for her so I’m not upset that she don’t remember me. Anyway, the Powers don’t think that you’re moving as fast as you should be and you got a time table to keep with. They tried sending the Slayer a dream first-“
“The telemalta stuff?” Willow asked. “What does that mean?”
“But you guys haven’t been able to interpret that yet,” Whistler continued. “So…they sent the book.”
“And you?” Spike asked.
“Nah, I’m just here to deliver the book as an apology for sending the Slayer to Hell. Big mistake, let me tell you. Whoo! There was some trouble with the Powers for that,” Whistler said as he stood up. “Anyway, the rest is up to you.”
“Wait just one minute, mate,” Spike said standing up and shoving the smaller man against the wall. “Wot do you mean, you sent the Slayer to Hell and it was a bloody mistake?”
“Hey, easy on the coat, it wasn’t my mistake. It was the Powers mistake. That’s all I can tell you.” With that, Whistler disappeared.
“Where’d he go?” Spike demanded.
Anya rolled her eyes. “Teleported, duh.”
“Mistake,” Buffy whispered. Her eyes were still closed and a tear slipped out from beneath her eyelid and ran down her cheek.
“Wot’s that, luv?” Spike asked, sitting back down next to her.
“A mistake. A fucking mistake,” her eyes snapped open. “They send me to Hell and it’s…a mistake?”
“Buffy, can you remember?” Willow asked.
“I lived…147 years in…Hell…like a…a savage because they made a mistake? I can’t…I’m sorry…” Buffy stood up and ran out the door. Spike ran after her.
The group sat there stunned.
“Well, at least she’s speaking in full sentences,” Anya said helpfully.
XXX
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 12 | | | | - - abc + | | |
Pretty banner is by the lovely ms. Selene
Chapter 12
“Buffy! Buffy, wait!” Spike chased after her, but Buffy didn’t stop running. He followed, calling after her.
She stopped outside of Restfield cemetery and Spike almost crashed into her. She walked through the cemetery until she reached Joyce’s grave where she fell on her knees in front of the gravestone. Spike stood behind her, unsure of what to do.
“You remember,” he said finally and then mentally kicked himself for sounding like a ponce. “How?”
“When Whistler touched my head…it was like this sudden…rush. I didn’t…not remember, it’s just that all those memories had been pushed to the back of my mind. He sorta brought them forward,” she said quietly and began to trace the outlined letters on the gravestone.
Spike exhaled sharply. “Then you remember my promise, yeah? Look, I know that I said that I’d protect her and I failed. I failed when it counted, I didn’t save you when it counted.”
“Spike.”
He continued quickly. “I want you to know that I did save you afterwards…every bleedin’ night afterwards in a thousand different ways. I was faster, you know, more clever.”
“Spike,” she turned to face him. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” She turned back to the grave.
“Right, then. I’ll leave you be then.” He turned to leave.
“Please stay,” she said quietly.
Spike knelt down next to her. “She was a great lady, your mum. Reminded me a bit of my own mother…always wanting to see the best in people.” He put his hand on the gravestone next to Buffy’s.
She placed her hand over his, running her fingers over his. He froze, afraid to move.
“Do you know what it’s like to feel the touch of another person? To have your skin touching theirs?”
He didn’t say anything. She had flipped his hand over and was now lightly tracing the lines in his palm.
“God, to touch someone again. 147 years without anyone to touch or to have them touch me. One hundred and forty seven years,” her voice broke with a sob. “And I was all alone.”
“Buffy,” Spike reached out to put his arms around her, but she recoiled.
“No!” She keeled over onto her hip, placing one hand down for balance. “Don’t touch me. How can you touch me? I’m a m-monster.”
“You’re not a monster, luv.”
“I am,” she sobbed. “I am, you just don’t know. You don’t know all the things I’ve done.”
“ ‘M sure ‘ve done worse. Buffy, you did what you had to do to survive. That doesn’t make you a monster. Makes you human.”
“I like the way you say my name…even w-when I couldn’t remember, I liked hearing you say my name…you sound like you care.” She looked at him, her tears flowing freely down her face and his heart broke.
“I do care, luv. I care about you so much it hurts me.” He reached for her again and she allowed him to pull her into his arms.
“I d-drank blood,” she whispered.
“I do too.”
“I a-ate…d…demons.”
“I used to eat humans.”
“I forgot I was human…I did…non-human things…I was…primal.”
“It’s okay, luv.” He tightened his grip around her.
She buried her face in his chest. “God, you feel so good…I dreamt about you while I was gone. I drew pictures of you on my cave wall.”
“Buffy,” his voice came out strangled.
“Please, Spike, please touch me,” she whispered.
He placed two fingers under her chin and tilted her head up. He stared at her for a moment before lowering his head and pressing his lips against hers. She ran her tongue over his lips and moaned when he granted her access. His hands glided up and down her arms and back as he tried to fulfill her wish.
“You feel so good,” she whispered when he abandoned her lips to press kisses down her neck.
“You don’t know what you do to me, luv. Tell me. Tell me what you want before I go too far,” he muttered before lowering his mouth to her breast.
Buffy moaned and arched into him. “You…I want you.”
Spike moaned and lowered her to the ground, rolling himself on top of her. “So beautiful you are,” he whispered as he ground himself against her.
She gasped and wrapped her legs around his waist. “It’s been so long…so long,” she muttered as tears began to fall from her eyes again.
“Sshh.” Spike kissed the tears from her face and tangled his fingers in her hair. “My beautiful girl. My Slayer.”
“Spike, please,” Buffy whimpered.
“Wot? Tell me.” His hand worked its way under her shirt and began to massage her breast. “’ll do anything, just tell me.”
“Need you.”
Spike kissed her passionately. “’M here love. You’ve got me. For now and forever, ‘m yours.”
“Need you…inside me…please.” Buffy pushed her hips against his desperately.
“Sshh, I got you.” Spike captured her lips again as his hand slowly worked the zipper on her jeans.
Buffy whimpered and tried to push the jeans completely off her hips without losing contact with him.
“Relax,” he whispered as he undid his own jeans. He tried to pull back from her enough that he could get his shoes off, but Buffy wouldn’t let go. “A’right, just lemme slide something under you so yer not on the ground.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Buffy swallowed hard as she looked into his eyes. “I’ve laid on worse.”
For once in his life, Spike didn’t know what to say. He kissed her instead and ran his hand along down her stomach and into her curls. He slid one finger into her and pressed his thumb against her clit. Buffy moaned loudly and pushed her hips upward as he added another finger. He pulled away too soon and Buffy’s whimper turned to a moan as he slid inside her.
“Buffy, luv,” he breathed as his hips began to find a rhythm.
“Spike…feels so good…” she bit down lightly on his neck and he groaned loudly.
He rested his head in the crook of her neck, licking and biting at it. Buffy’s moans grew louder and Spike slipped his hand between their bodies to rub her clit.
“Oh, god! Spike, don’t stop. Please…so good…Spike!”
“Never stop, pet. Lemme hear you come. Come for me, luv.” He gave her clit a pinch and she came hard, screaming out his name and setting off his own release as her walls strangled him. Her orgasm stretched on as he kept up the pressure on her nub and her fingers dug into his shoulders as she rode it out. Finally, she slumped to the ground and he collapsed on top of her. He started to roll off, but she stopped him.
“No, stay like that…please.”
“Don’t want to crush you.”
She smiled, “You won’t…you just feel good and…”
He kissed her softly and then rested his forehead against hers. She had her eyes closed, but she lightly rubbed her nose against his.
“You know what the worst is?” Buffy asked quietly. “After awhile…I forgot my name…For the first few years, I walked around talking to myself. Then I started talking to myself and answering as well…finally, I just stopped talking…Then…I would realize that I forgot the names of things…I used to…make myself repeat the names of all the states and the names of all my family and friends…everyday…I would say them out loud…when I stopped talking, I would say them in my head…After awhile, I couldn’t remember what they meant…I think that’s when I stopped…being me.” She opened her eyes and looked at him. “I couldn’t remember being me.” A sob erupted from her and Spike captured her face in his hands.
“Look at me. You are smart and resourceful and a survivor…and you’re bloody gorgeous to boot.” He paused as she let out a small laugh. “And I am never, never lettin’ you out of my sight. I love you Buffy Anne Summers, and ‘m yours until I dust. Never forget that.”
Buffy reached up and pulled him down into another kiss. “Will…will you stay with me…when I go to sleep. I like waking up with you.”
“Always.”
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 13 | | | | - - abc + | | |
Chapter 13
Buffy let Spike lead her back toward Revello Drive, let him entangle his fingers with her own as they walked. Her mind felt blank and she suddenly thought of the old proverb, is it better to know or not know? She knew now, it was better not to know.
As a 167 year old savage, she had been happy with the simple things: warmth, touch, food, shelter, but as a 167 year old woman, all she could feel was shame. Shame in how she had behaved, how she had lived, the things she had done. She couldn’t tell her friends because they would never understand. They didn’t know what it was like to have been alone so long that you forgot how to be human. They couldn’t comprehend waking up one day and realizing that they didn’t know how to dress themselves because they didn’t remember what it meant to have clothes or shampoo or a toothbrush. At that thought, Buffy absentmindedly stuck her tongue through a hole in the back of her mouth where a molar had decayed and fallen out.
Buffy eyed the vampire next to her. Why had he haunted her dreams every night for all that time that she’d been gone? She could understand why Willow and Dawn had been there, but why Spike? Why did she feel that he was the only one that she felt safe around?
The house lights were too bright and she paused on the porch.
“D’you want to sit here for a moment, kitten?” Spike asked, noticing her hesitation.
She nodded and let Spike lead her to the porch swing that he’d built for Dawn a few months earlier. He let his feet push the swing slightly as she sat next to him, one leg on the ground the other propped in front of her on the swing.
“Would you like me to let you be?” Spike asked.
Buffy turned and looked at him watching as her extended silence made him fidget. “No,” she said finally. “I think I’ve been alone enough.”
XXX
“Giles, what are we going to do?” Willow asked softly.
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’m not sure, Willow. I don’t know what the ramifications of Buffy’s sudden remembrance are going to do to her. I don’t know what to do about this girl that Dawn has suddenly taken a fancy to, and I most certainly do not know what this telemalta thing is. I do know that I have a headache and I need a good, strong drink.”
Willow looked over at Tara fretfully. Giles always knew what to do. If he didn’t then…she shuddered to think what was going to happen.
“Maybe this girl is another Hell God,” Anya suggested. “It’s possible that she escaped her home dimension during one of Willow’s botched spells.”
“Ahn!” Xander yelled.
She shrugged. “What? It’s certainly possible, not that I think Willow did it on purpose.”
Willow stood up abruptly and walked over to the phone. She picked it up and began furiously punching numbers into it.
“Who are you calling?” Tara asked.
“Cordelia,” Willow said, crossing one arm over her waist. “That Whistler guy said she worked for the Powers That Be, so maybe she-Hi, Angel? It’s Willow…good, how are you?...or really, a Hell dimension. Which Hell dimension would that be…uh-huh…wow, really…Uh, no, no she’s back…well, she’s not here right now, but…uh-huh…yeah, I’ll tell her, but hey, is Cordy around? Thanks…Cordy, hi! It’s Willow…I heard a rumor that you’re working for the Powers That Be. Is that true?...Oh, really…and how does that work?...Oh…So, is it like a direct line or something?...Well, we have a bit of a problem here and this guy, Whistler, came to see us, but he spoke in riddles…Oh, okay. If you happen to hear anything to do with the word telemalta, can you let us know? …really?...Well, thanks.” Willow hung up the phone.
“Well,” Xander demanded.
Willow sat down next to Tara dejectedly. “She gets visions from the Powers of events that she’s supposed to have Angel stop, like when he showed up at Thanksgiving that one time. She has no idea how to help us, but she’ll tell Wesley about the telemalta thing and she’ll call us if they find anything.”
“So, we’re still at square one?” Xander asked.
“Looks like,” Willow answered.
XXX
Dawn waited until she was sure that no one would be paying attention to her and then slipped out the bedroom window and climbed down the tree, dropping not exactly silently to the ground. She glanced in the window to see the whole group engrossed in speaking to a strange man.
“Just like I thought,” Dawn said silently. “They care when I’m in front of their face but the minute I’m gone, I don’t matter.”
Well, Dawn knew one person that she mattered to and that’s exactly where she was headed.
XXX
Xander watched as the front door opened and Buffy entered the house, Spike in tow. It was not an unusual sight, Spike with Buffy, and Xander had become uncomfortably used to it, but he had assumed that once Buffy had her memories back that she would shove Spike away with all the ferocity of the Slayer she was.
Instead, Xander watched as Buffy silently crossed the room and took her seat at the research table. She picked up a book and began reading it. Buffy researching was strange in itself but the fact that the moment she sat down, she’d absentmindedly reached out with her left hand to grab Spike’s right hand, never once looking up from the musty pages, well, Xander didn’t know what to think.
“So, Buffster, it’s nice to have you all back in the land of the sane and memorful again,” he said, cheerfully.
Buffy looked up from her book and stared at him. She didn’t even blink and it unnerved him.
“Yeah,” he said, shifting uncomfortably. “So…are you hungry? Do you want me to get some food? Anything you particularly missed while you were gone? Pizza? Chinese? More donuts?”
Buffy stared at him another minute before returning to her book.
“I-I don’t think she’s hungry,” Tara said softly, studying the blonde in front of her.
“Well, she could at least answer him instead of being all rude and staring,” Anya said.
Buffy slammed the book closed, stood up, and left the table. They heard her footsteps up the stairs and the closing of her bedroom door.
“See, rude,” Anya said.
“Maybe I should go talk to her?” Willow asked, looking around the table for guidance.
“No, ‘ll go,” Spike said.
“Wait, why you?” Xander demanded.
“Because she sees me as as much of a monster as she sees herself,” Spike answered, realizing the truth.
“Well, you are a monster,” Xander said.
“Xander, please,” Giles muttered. “Spike, why do you think that Buffy views herself as a monster?”
Spike cocked his head to the side for a moment. “Think for a moment, Rupes, just how one would go about surviving 150 years in Hell. Think about the things one would have to do to survive. Got that? Now multiply it by an imbedded goodness factor of 1,000 percent and you’ve maybe half the guilt and shame she’s feeling.”
Spike turned on his heel and left a stunned group staring at his retreating back.
XXX
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 14 | | | | - - abc + | | |
Chapter 14
Dawn’s teeth were chattering by the time she reached Brianna’s house. Why was she so cold? It was warm out.
She knocked on the door, but no one answered. Inside the house, random colors of light were bouncing off the dark walls. Dawn knocked harder and heard a word in a strange language before the door opened.
“Hey,” Brianna said. “What’s wrong?”
“It was just like you said, at my house, so I left. Can I stay here?” Dawn asked.
“Sure,” Brianna opened the door wider to let Dawn in. “We can work on more spells.” She turned and followed Dawn into her room. “Oh, so I did some research on that mystical key thing you were talking about and check this, so this key is supposed to have telekinesis-you know like Carrie shit- and the ability to talk to the dead, plus the power to open gateways to other dimensions. Where did you hear about this thing?”
Dawn sat heavily on the bed. Telekinesis? Talking to the dead? “Oh, you know, in the Magic Box. Anya’s always talking about weird magical things.”
Brianna flopped down next to her. “We sooo have to find this thing. All that power… How cool would that be?”
Dawn let out a fake giggle. “Not as cool as you would think.”
“Oh my god!” Brianna turned to look at her. “Your sister is the key, isn’t she? That’s why she was missing for all that time, she was in another dimension! Damn, no wonder you hate her.”
“I don’t hate my sister…”
“Okay, so you’re jealous of her. That’s understandable. I mean, she has a lot of power. Hell. I’m jealous of her.”
“My sister’s not the key!” Dawn insisted.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to lie to me…” Brianna paused a moment. “Dawn, there’s something I didn’t tell you…about the key.”
“What? What else did you find out?”
“The key…it’s…well, it’s not…it’s evil. Here look,” Brianna grabbed a book off her nightstand and flipped it open. “Look…it’s prophesized to bring about the end of the world.”
Dawn glanced at the picture and snorted. “Hate to break it to you, but that was last years apocalypse.”
“Huh?”
Dawn jerked her head at the picture. “All that happened last year.”
“Really?”
“Yeah…I was there.”
“Oh, wow. Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Dawn muttered. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“’Kay, but listen, the book says that on the eve of Telemaltiscia, the key shall part the folds of the dimensions and bring forth Marikulous, the goddess of time, and she shall banish the unworthy, and the faithful of the First shall rule. I mean, who’s really faithful these days anyway? So that sounds like the end of the world to me.” Brianna shut the book with a thud. “Hey, you don’t look so good.”
Dawn lay back on the bed, her hands over her stomach. “I don’t feel so good.”
Brianna leaned over Dawn. “I know what will make you feel better.”
“What?”
“Wanna do another spell?”
XXX
Spike didn’t knock before walking into Buffy’s room. The door wasn’t locked and he didn’t want to give her the choice of ignoring him. She was curled up on her bed, clutching her stuffed pig.
He walked across them room and slide next to her, pulling her close. She turned over in his arms, burying her face in his neck.
“It’s so strange,” she whispered.
“Wot is?”
“This…me…everything.”
“Not sure ‘m following.”
“I was listening to Xander and…he’s just like I remember him. They’re all as I remember them…”
“From 147 years ago?” Spike guessed. “They haven’t changed.”
“No, they haven’t.”
“And you have.” It wasn’t a question. Her change was almost tangible.
Buffy looked up at him. “Yes.”
Spike tightened his hold on her. “I know. The old you would never let me get this close.”
She sighed and lowered her head again. “She would have…maybe…”
“No, luv, you wouldn’t have,” he paused. “I know you think I’m a monster…and I know that you think you’re a monster, but…maybe we could just see each other as a man and a woman?”
Buffy shifted uncomfortably, “Spike…”
“Shh, you don’t have to say anything.”
“No, I do.” Buffy lifted her head to meet his eyes. “Spike, I do feel something for you but I don’t know what it is. It’s been so long since I felt anything that…I don’t even know if I’m capable of love anymore. Right now, all I can offer you is me.”
Spike pressed a kiss to her forehead. “That’s enough for me right now.”
Buffy lay back down and he stroked her hair, listening to her heart beat. Suddenly, Spike sat straight up.
“Spike?” Buffy asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Hang on a sec, luv.” Spike cocked his head to one side. Five heartbeats downstairs-Giles, Xander, Willow, Tara, and Anya; only one heartbeat upstairs. He jumped out of the bed and ran to the closed door of Dawn’s room.
“Dawn! Open this door!” Spike pounded on the bedroom door loud enough to bring the Scoobies running up the stairs.
“What’s going on?” Giles asked.
Spike pushed the bedroom door opened and stood to the side. The room was empty.
XXX
“It’s no use,” Willow said, pushing the map away from her. “Whomever she’s with is just too strong.”
“Can you track the trail of magic?” Giles asked.
Tara shook her head. “W-we already tried.”
“Think!” Buffy said. “Can anyone remember the name of this new friend?”
Everyone shook their head.
“I even called Janice and asked her if Dawn was hanging around anyone new,” Xander offered.
“Can try and track her,” Spike said to Buffy.
“Do you think it’ll work?” Buffy asked.
“Worth a try, isn’t it?”
Buffy nodded. “Okay, Spike and I will try and track Dawn down. Willow and Tara, you keep trying to break this magical forcefield thingy. Xander, keep calling all of Dawn’s friends that you know. Call her whole damn class if you have to. Giles-“
“Anya and I will research,” Giles interrupted.
“Right.” Buffy walked toward the front door, Spike right behind her. “We meet up back here in two hours.” She opened the door and walked right into the man standing on her porch.
“Please,” the man said, pushing back the hood of his brown robe. “Please, I am looking for the Slayer. I must speak with her.”
“I’m the Slayer,” Buffy answered. “What do you want with me?”
“I need to speak with you. It concerns the Key…she…the key…it’s dying.”
XXX
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 15 | | | | - - abc + | | |
Chapter 15
Spike and Buffy stared at the man in the brown robe standing on the porch.
“You’re going to repeat that…slowly,” Spike said.
The man hesitated. “If I could tell you the whole story…”
“Or you could skip to the part about my sister. Dying.” Buffy said.
“Are you one of the monks that created Dawn?” Giles asked, peering between Buffy and Spike’s shoulders.
“I am. My name is Brother John,” the monk answered.
Buffy stepped aside to allow the monk into the house. “I’m warning you though, one wrong move and I’ll make you very sorry you stepped foot in my house.”
“Yes,” the monk bowed at her. “Of course.” He sat on the couch and the group gathered around him. “I am part of an order of monks that have protected the Key since the beginning of time. In its natural form, the Key is a-a form of energy often viewed in the color green. It is said that in the beginning, a monk of high ranking would be chosen to house the Key in his body but the practice was disbarred because the essence of the Key would often kill the monk. It is too much energy to be contained in a human shell and the dangers of the human being possessed by darkness…we began to keep the Key in its pure form. When…When the Beast came after us last year, we knew that we could no longer protect the Key. We had to find someone who could help us. For many days, we fasted and prayed until the head of our order had a vision. The Slayer of Vampires could help us. We knew that finding that convincing the Slayer would be hard and we had to hide the Key as well, but how does one hide pure energy? We came up with two ideas, to give the Slayer a sister or a child. The child would have been easier, but we couldn’t risk hurting the Slayer or the Key by making her pregnant. So, we made her a sister.”
“Who the HELL gives you the right to play with MY life that way?” Buffy demanded. “You sit there talking about how you were just going to create a child for me like you were going to the grocery store to buy bread. You have no right!”
“We had to protect the world. That is our mission, to protect the world from the Key.”
Buffy was visibly shaking. Tara got up and ran to the kitchen to grab her a glass of water.
“H-h-h-ere, Buffy. D-drink t-this,” Tara nervously placed the glass in Buffy’s hand.
Buffy continued staring angrily at the monk, not even noticing the glass in her hand.
“Uh, Buffy, could you blink…please? You’re kinda scary right now?” Xander said, then jumped as the glass in Buffy’s hand exploded in a shower of glass.
Buffy finally did blink and looked down in surprise at the blood flowing from her hand. Willow grabbed a towel off the table and held it to Buffy’s hand.
“Finish your story of how you meddled in my life,” Buffy said, calmly as she watched Willow try to pull a shard of glass from her hand.
“Perhaps I should pause a moment?” Brother John started.
“Why?” Buffy asked. “Your order had no respect for the matters of my life before. Why should you start now?”
“She’s really scary now,” Anya whispered to Giles loudly enough so that the whole room could hear.
“I believe,” Spike said slowly. “That the lady gave you an order. Best finish the story, mate before I get hungry and decide you’re dinner.”
The monk started a moment. “B-but you are the white vampire, the eternal guardian. It has been written. You would not hurt me.”
“I hope by white vampire that you’re referring to his hair color,” Xander muttered.
“Wot.are.you.talking.about?” Spike ground out.
“It’s just…they said…” the monk seemed flustered for the first time since entering the house.
“Perhaps we should let him finish his story?” Giles said.
“Yes, yes of course. Please forgive me. We only meant to have the Key in the Slayer’s possession for a short time…until the Beast was killed, then we would have reverted it back to its natural form and you would have never remembered it.”
“Again you think you have the right to decided for me and mine,” Buffy said lowly.
“What happened?” Giles asked.
“The Beast, she killed off too many of the brethren and there weren’t enough of us to perform the ritual. Please, you must understand. The form that we gave the Key, that of the Slayer’s sister, it isn’t strong enough to hold the Key’s essence. We must find a way to revert it back or it could cause unspeakable damage.”
“What kind of damage are we talking about here?” Xander asked.
“It could bring about the destruction of not just our world, but hundreds of other dimensions as well.”
“Isn’t this something you should have thought about before putting the essence of the Key into the body of a human girl?” Willow asked.
“We only thought of protecting the world from the Beast. We did not think that far ahead and for this I have prayed greatly for our mistake.”
“Yeah, well, praying don’t fix the mistake,” Spike said.
“And how, do you propose, do we get the essence out of my sister?” Buffy asked.
The monk looked around the room, started to speak, faltered, then tried to speak again.
“He has no clue,” Anya announced. “He was hoping that we did.” She took in the startled looks of the group around her. “What? Like I can make a useful comment every so often. I have been alive for over 1000 years you know. I do know things.”
“Giles, I do believe we’ve found another researcher for you,” Buffy said. “Spike and I are going to find Dawn.”
“You’ve lost the Key?” Brother John asked.
“Dawn is not your concern,” Spike said. “Now, I believe the Slayer gave you a job to do. I suggest you get to it.”
Buffy stood and the group saw for the first time that she had been clutching Spike’s left hand for the duration of the conversation and the bones in his fingers were clearly broken. They watched as Buffy led Spike out of the house, slamming the door behind her.
“Oh my goddess,” Tara murmured.
“He never said a word,” Willow finished.
“He is the white vampire,” Brother John said.
“I think,” Giles said, removing his glasses to clean them. “That you and I are going to have a very, very long discussion about what the white vampire is...”
XXX
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 16 | | | | - - abc + | | |
Chapter 16
She was standing in a circle of mirrors. Every mirror showed a reflection that was hers but not hers at the same time. Dawn spun around watching the reflections mimic her.
“What’s going on?”
The question echoed around her.
“Where am I?”
Nothing but the echo.
The true image of her was not mirroring her movements like it should have, but stared straight at her.
“Who are you?” Dawn asked.
“I am you. We are all you.” The mirror replied, its voice multiple layers of male echoes over her own timbre.
“I don’t understand.”
“We are the essence of the Key. We are you. You are us. We are one.”
“Why am I here?”
“To explain. Time grows short for your current vessel. We have all been vessels for the Key. When our time ends, we join the essence of the Key. As the Key, we are immortal. We protect this realm.”
Dawn took a step forward and faltered. “I thought the Key was evil.”
The images around her hissed. “The Key is neither evil nor good. The Key is an essence. An essence may not choose sides. An essence is chosen.”
“But, but who chooses?”
“The protectors. For longer then a millennia the Key has been protected by an order of monks. Their time is at an end. The new protectors have been chosen, but have not accepted their calling.”
Dawn licked her lips. “What does that mean?”
“It means the Key is vulnerable. You are the current vessel. You must protect the Key from those that would seek to use our power to do harm.”
“Why me? I just want to be normal!” Dawn shouted.
“You are not normal. You were created as a vessel for the Key. This is your destiny. You have no other.” The reflections disappeared leaving Dawn in an empty room.
“Wait! Come back!” Dawn spun around only to find her normal reflection staring back at her. “Please! Come back!”
“Dawn! Wake up, you’re totally creeping me out!”
Dawn sat up with a start and banged her forehead into Brianna. “OW!”
“Dude, what was that about?” Brianna asked, rubbing her head.
Dawn tucked some hair behind her ear. “N-nothing, bad dream.”
XXX
The scent stopped. Spike growled in frustration and tried to trace Dawn’s scent back and pick it up again, but it didn’t work.
“What’s wrong?” Buffy asked.
“Her scent, it just stops.”
“What do you mean? How does a scent suddenly stop?”
Spike spun on his heel to face her, his hand running through his hair. “It doesn’t. A scent may fade or-or trail off, but it doesn’t just end. It’s like bloody aliens just zapped her right from the spot.”
Buffy looked around thoughtfully. She paused when she noticed an apartment complex half a block away from them. “Spike, could Dawn have gone over there?” She pointed at the buildings.
His glance followed her finger. “Possibly…or she could have been beamed to bleedin’ Mars. The scent isn’t anywhere.”
Buffy reached out and took his hand. “Let’s go check it out.”
The moment that Buffy’s hand touched his, Spike picked up Dawn’s scent again. “Wait, scent’s back.” He paused and sniffed the air. “Yer right. She’s over there. Probably in one of those flats.”
In synchronized movements, Spike and Buffy headed toward the apartments.
XXX
“Okay, here’s what I’ve got. In the past several months three girls from Dawn’s class have gone missing; Lindsey Brown, Diana Laudner, and Brianna Taylor.” Xander threw the pad of paper on the research table.
Willow stretched across the table to reach the notebook. She studied it for a moment. “Oh my goddess!” Willow’s eyes opened wide and she leaned over to Giles. “Look! Look at the date that girl went missing.”
“Good lord,” Giles muttered. “Xander, have you called this girl’s parents?”
“Huh? Which one?”
“Xander,” Willow said, exasperated. “Did you not notice anything coincidental about the date that Brianna Taylor went missing? Like, say, it was the date that Buffy jumped into the portal?!”
XXX
Dawn curled up on the bed. She was hot and cold all at the same time. “I think I have the flu,” Dawn muttered.
“Do you?” Brianna asked.
“I don’t know. Can-can you call my sister?”
“Now, why ever would you want me to call your sister?” Brianna asked, coming to kneel on the bed beside Dawn. “You told me yourself that she doesn’t really care about you.” Brianna smoothed Dawn’s hair away from her face. “She’s not even really your sister, is she?”
“What are you talking about? Of course, she’s my sister.” Dawn’s eyes started to droop.
“Aw, you look tired. Are you tired, Dawnie?”
“Why…why are you…talking…funny? What’s…going…” Dawn trailed off, fast asleep.
Brianna continued stroking her hair. “Aw, poor little Key. All tired out.”
A noise outside caught her attention and Brianna looked out the window. “Oh dear, our company has arrived to soon, little Key. I think we should go now.”
XXX
“She’s in there,” Spike said, pointing to the apartment in front of them. “Do we knock or just go in?”
“We go in,” Buffy said.
“A’ight, let’s go.” Spike kicked the front door in. “Knock, knock, anybody home?”
Buffy walked in the apartment and look around. “She’s not here anymore.” She turned to look at Spike who still stood just outside the door.
“How do you know, luv?”
Buffy rubbed her arms and walked through the empty apartment. The place was dirty as though no one had lived between its walls for a long time. “I don’t know. I just do. Can’t you feel it?”
Spike rubbed his chest absent-mindedly. “She was here though. Recently.”
“But not now.”
“No, luv. Not now.”
XXX
Giles rubbed his eyes tiredly as he watched Brother John finish off the salad that Tara had prepared for him.
“So, tell us about the white vampire,” Giles said as Brother John pushed his bowl away.
“For a millennium, my order has watched over the Key. We have carefully guarded it against good and evil-“
“Why guard it from good?” Willow interrupted. “Why not let the good side use it to fight the evil side?”
“Because the Key is too powerful for either side. Someone might think they are using the Key for good, but it will not remain so. The power would consume them. It is inevitable. It is the same reason that there is only ever one Slayer. Too many Slayers would upset the balance of the Universe,” Brother John explained.
“How do you know about Slayers?” Giles asked.
“Our order was there when the Slayer was created.”
“You know how the Slayer was created?!” Giles exclaimed.
“Yes,” Brother John hesitated. “I am not sure what you want me to tell you. Do you wish to hear about the Key, the Slayer, or the White Vampire?”
“Can’t you tell us about all of them?” Willow asked.
“Perhaps you should start at the beginning,” Giles said.
“There is no time,” Brother John insisted. “The Key is dying and she will take its essence if we do not stop her.”
“She? She who?” Willow asked.
“You guys are not going to believe this,” Xander said walking into the room. “That Brianna girl…she vanished into thin air. Her parents can’t explain it. They said that one minute they were in the car driving home; a dog ran in the street, the father swerved and hit a tree. When the police arrived, the parents were the only ones in the car. Time of disappearance was the exact time that Buffy closed the portal.”
XXX
| | | | |
| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 17 | | | | - - abc + | | |
Chapter 17
“Oh goddess! Something must have come out of the portal when Buffy jumped in!” Tara exclaimed.
“Tell us everything, now!” Giles demanded, grabbing Brother John around the shoulders.
“There-there is a legend amongst my people that the time would come when we could no longer guard the Key, that the new guardians would arise and we would know them by the signs. The Eternal One having defied death and time, she who had survived beyond reason and suffering; and the White Vampire, he who chose to go against his nature to fight among side his mortal enemy, he who would love the Key not for its power but for its self. These would be the new guardians and the brotherhood would give the Key to the guardians and pass along the knowledge of life. Thus the brotherhood would end and the millennia of the guardians would begin.” Brother John slumped back in his chair when Giles released his arms.
“Wait, so you’re saying that Buffy and Spike are going to guard Dawn for the next millennia?” Xander asked.
Giles licked his lips, “I believe, Xander, that is exactly what he is saying. Is-is that why Buffy survived all those years in the other dimension?”
Brother John nodded. “Yes, she has passed the tests necessary to become a guardian.”
“Well, what about Spike’s tests? Spike didn’t pass any tests because he was here with us all summer and there was no test taking,” Xander said.
“He was taking the test the whole time,” Willow muttered. “He was here fighting along side us, humans-vampire slayers if you will, and taking care of Dawn.”
“Yes,” Brother John said. He closed his eyes a moment. “I feel our time is drawing near. The Guardians must accept the fate or the world will end.”
“Hello,” Anya called walking into the house. “I have come bearing news that could be of extreme interest and importance.” She walked into the dinning room and surveyed the scene around her. “Why does everyone have their apocalypse faces on?”
“Oh, you know, because the world is ending,” Willow said.
“Oh, again?” Anya said brightly. “That’s too bad. Anyway, you are not going to believe what happened at the Magic Box today.”
“Ahn, is this relevant to anything we’re discussing?” Xander asked.
“Only if you were discussing Telemaltiscia.”
XXX
“Wakey, wakey little Key.”
Dawn opened her eyes slowly. The world was spinning and she felt like she was going to throw up.
“Do you know where you are?”
Dawn looked around and her eyes widened. “Glory’s tower,” she whispered.
Brianna pursed her lips together. “Well, it’s a tower that Glorificus built, but I wouldn’t say it’s her tower, you know. It’s actually called a Marcipo tower and it is used in rituals to open dimensions. We’ve met before, you and I that is.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Of course you don’t. You were housed in a different shell at the time and so was I. My original name was Brother Vincent and I was a monk. One of the Chosen to guard the Key. I remember it like it was yesterday, it was right before the Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth and I was walking home from the market when I had a vision. The Devil and God appeared before me and told me that I had a mission. Now, I thought that it was odd that both the Devil and God would appear before me and I told them as much, but you know what they did? They laughed. They told me that they had started off as one being but had been split into good and evil, God being good and the Devil being evil, and that this division was tearing the world apart. In essence, this division was causing the creation of different dimensions, and it was up to me to save the world and the souls of man.”
“You’re crazy,” Dawn whispered.
Brianna continued as though she hadn’t heard. “In order to save the world, I had to release Marikulous, the keeper of time. Only she could fix the dimensions and keep the one true dimension safe. She would release the First and the First would banish evil from the realm, and I would be a hero.”
“The First is evil! It tricked you!” Dawn yelled.
“You lie to save your shell, just like last time. Brother Dinafro thought that I wanted the essence for myself. He believed that the Key spoke through him and he banished me to that…place. I was trapped. Then one day, the portal opened again and I knew that my time had finally come. The world shall finally be free of its burden.” Brianna threw back her head and laughed and Dawn felt afraid.
XXX
“Spike?”
“Yea, luv.”
“I feel…I feel like Dawn was here,” Buffy said.
“I feel it too,” he replied.
“She’s afraid,” Buffy whispered. “She’s so afraid…and she’s calling to us.”
“I hear it,” Spike answered.
“Hold me,” Buffy demanded.
Spike walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. She turned and laid her head against his chest. A bolt of power shot through both their bodies and they stiffened.
“I can see her,” Buffy whispered.
Spike swallowed. “Me too.”
“What’s happening to us?”
“I don’t know, luv.”
“It doesn’t hurt though…I feel…connected,” Buffy murmured. I feel safe…I belong here.
Spike tightened his arms. “You do belong here, luv.”
Buffy’s head snapped back so quickly that she nearly connected with Spike’s chin. “What did you say?”
“Wot? You said that you feel safe, like you belong here. So, I said that you do belong here.”
“Spike, I thought that. I didn’t say it out loud.”
“Well, how the bloody hell would I know what you said if you didn’t say it out loud?”
Buffy stared at him a second and then she directed a thought at him. Spike shuddered and his eyes rolled back in his head.
“God, luv. Warn a bloke before you’re going to do that…though I wouldn’t say no to trying that thought out for real later on.” Spike curled his tongue against his teeth and sent his own dirty thought back to Buffy.
“I think,” Buffy panted, leaning against the wall for support. “We should figure this out later and find Dawn now…you really want to do that?”
“And so much more, kitten.”
“Concentrate on Dawn,” Buffy said. “Are you getting anything?”
“Nothing.”
“Um, maybe we have to touch?” Buffy reached out and grabbed Spike’s hand.
“Glory’s tower,” they said simultaneously.
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| Longer, Then Forever - Chapter 18 | | | | - - abc + | | |
A/N: Like it or hate it, this is the end.
Chapter 18
“What did you learn about Telemaltisca?” Giles said.
“That it’s tonight,” Anya answered.
“And how did you learn this?” Giles asked.
“Because it’s an ancient holiday for this Goddess of Time and someone came in to buy candles for it,” Anya said. “You know, I had never heard of it before, so we must be talking a really small sect of followers.”
“We have to find Buffy and Spike immediately,” Willow said.
“We could do a locator spell,” Tara suggested.
“In order to open a portal, the Key must be raised above the ground,” Brother John said.
“Oh, Glory’s tower is still standing,” Anya said.
“Please, we must find the Guardians,” Brother John pleaded.
“Tara and Willow, set up the locator spell, Xander, you’re one weapons detail,” Giles turned to Anya. “Anya, um, you talk to Brother John. Let’s be ready to go in ten minutes.”
XXX
“Please let me go,” Dawn pleaded.
“Oh, shut up! All you do is whine, whine, whine. I still cannot believe that in this day and age that women are considered equal to men…and the language that you use…I have full access to this child’s memories, the human race has become atrocities,” Brianna paused a moment. “No matter. Soon, Marikulous shall cleanse this place.”
“What if we just do a spiritual cleaning, huh? Will that work?”
“Silence!” Brianna slowly circled Dawn. “You know, I thought the essence of the Key was supposed to give the shell immense knowledge. You don’t seem to have immense knowledge.”
“Ma-maybe after Glory left, I just became a regular teenager?” Dawn asked hopefully.
“Hmm, no, I can still see the Key inside you. Perhaps the Key’s essence has lessened over the years.”
“Possibly, I mean, you have been gone for a long time.”
“This could be bad. This would mean that the evilness in the world has sullied the Key,” Brianna mumbled.
“But you’re the evil, crazy person here!” Dawn yelled. “There was no sullying of the Key on my watch! Unless…what did you do to me when I was unconscious?”
Brianna looked appalled. “How dare you suggest such a thing? I am a monk! I have taken vows!”
“Yeah, well, those don’t hold up so well these days,” Dawn snorted. Come on Buffy, Spike, where are you?
“You’re trying to rile me up, aren’t you? Do you really think that if you stall for time that your darling Slayer will save you? She is crazy from her time in Hell. You think I do not know this?”
Dawn blinked. “Why aren’t you all savagey from being in that place?”
“I was not in the dimension that your sister was. I was in a type of Heaven. I was treated as a prophet and a holy man, which I am.” Brianna paused and looked up at the sky. “Oh, it looks like our time is up.”
XXX
Buffy could see the tower in the distance. She and Spike were running so fast that it felt as though they were flying. In her mind, she could see Brianna and Dawn on top of the tower, and if she strained enough, Buffy could almost hear the conversation they were having.
“The gate is just ahead, luv. Do we have a plan?” Spike asked.
“Rescue Dawn,” Buffy answered.
“Right, anymore detail on that?”
Buffy ignored him and kept running. There was a figure blocking the gate, and as they drew closer, she could see that it was Brother John.
“Move!” She yelled.
He held up his hand and revealed a small glass orb. “Stop,” he said.
Buffy and Spike both stopped running. It was as though they had stepped in cement and it had dried around their feet.
“What are you doing?” Buffy asked.
“You cannot save the Key unless you understand you role as the Guardians. This orb controls the Key. If the Key is not in a human shell, it resides in the orb. The orb can call the essence of the Key out of any shell at any time, but it can only be wielded by a Guardian. I am no longer a Guardian and therefore can not wield the orb. The power of the Guardians is spread between the members, therefore, you’re power is greater when you are together. Do you understand?”
“Is that why we could find Dawn when we touched?” Buffy asked.
“Yes, you are still new to your roles and your powers are weak. When this is over, go to Tibet and find the temple of my order. All will be explained there. Good-bye White Vampire. Good-bye Eternal One. I am blessed to have met you.” Brother John handed Spike the orb and vanished.
“Um, did that bloke just disappear?” Spike asked.
“SPIKE! BUFFY!”
They turned around to find Giles and the Scoobies running toward them.
“Dawn’s on the tower and Anya lost Brother John!” Xander yelled.
”I didn’t lose him!” Anya huffed. “He simply vanished.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Buffy muttered.
“Give me your hand, luv,” Spike said.
“What?” Buffy asked.
“Give me your hand,” he repeated.
She held out her hand and he grabbed it.
“Top of the tower,” he muttered and both of them disappeared.
“See,” Anya said. “That’s what happened with Brother John.”
XXX
“Wow, that will save us so much on airfare,” Buffy commented as she and Spike appeared at the top of the tower.
“You’re too late!” Brianna yelled. She was standing in front of Dawn holding a knife.
“This is eerily familiar,” Spike muttered.
“Yeah,” Buffy agreed. “And I hate re-runs.”
Call the essence of the Key.
“Um, did you just hear a voice in your head?” Buffy whispered.
“Yeah.” Spike held up the orb and inspected it. “Call the essence of the Key…Do you think it will hurt Dawn?”
“I don’t think so…I feel…I feel like the Key is connected to us. Does that sound weird? I think we can draw the Key out of her…”
“Give me your hand.”
Buffy took Spike’s hand and watched as he held the orb up. Suddenly, she knew what they had to do.
“By the power of the Guardians, we call the Key. Does the Key answer?” Spike yelled.
Dawn suddenly stood straight up. “The Key answers to the Guardians.” Dawn’s voice wasn’t her normal voice, but layered with dozens of male voices over it.
“The Guardians call the Key home. Does the Key answer?” Buffy yelled.
“The key answers to the will of the Guardians.” A green mist began to swirl around Dawn.
“No. No. No. No.” Brianna muttered and with a cry, she buried the knife deep into Dawn’s body.
The green mist was already settling inside the orb and the cry that came from Dawn’s lips was in her own voice. She looked down at the knife protruding from her stomach and looked back up to Buffy and Spike.
“NO!” Buffy yelled, trying to run forward.
Spike held firmly onto her hand and the essence of the Key rose from the orb and settled over both their bodies.
“Brother Vincent,” Their voices spoke in unison. “You have shamed the Order. You cause death to the shell of the Key and for this you shall be punished. We call your essence into this orb. There is shall remain until the end of time.”
Brianna appeared to be struggling with something. A ball of yellow energy appeared above her body, hovering for a moment before settling itself within the orb.
Buffy and Spike made their way over to where Dawn was lying. They knelt beside her.
I know what we have to do, Spike.
I know, luv…We can’t keep her.
They each placed one hand over the wound on Dawn’s stomach and watched as the blood flow slowed and the cut healed over.
“Buffy,” Dawn whispered. “I’m sorry.”
“Its okay, Dawn. I love you,” Buffy whispered.
“Do you know what we have to do, little bit?” Spike asked.
Dawn nodded. “Yes.”
“You have to pick someone,” Buffy said.
“I did,” Dawn whispered.
Buffy and Spike smiled simultaneously.
“Good choice, bit.”
“I’ll miss you,” Dawn whispered.
“No,” Buffy said. “You won’t.”
A light spread from Spike and Buffy’s hand. It spilled over the tower and across the horizon in time with the rising sun.
XXX
Dawn blinked and rolled over. “Where am I?”
“OW! What’s going on?”
“Hey, I know you. You’re in my class, right? Brianna or something,” Dawn said, sitting up.
“Yeah, I sit behind you. Um, do you know how we got here?” Brianna asked.
Dawn shook her head. “I have no idea, but my sister probably has half the cops out looking for me.” She helped the other girl to her feet.
“Okay, we’re in a construction area. Why are we in a construction area?” Brianna asked.
“DAWN! Oh, Goddess! DAWN! I was so worried!” Tara flew up to the girls and enveloped Dawn in a hug.
“Oof!” Dawn muttered, hugging her back.
“Dawn, we’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Willow said, trying to catch her breath.
“Brianna, this is my sister Tara and her girlfriend, Willow,” Dawn said.
Brianna half waved. “Um, my parents are probably worried, so I’m gonna head home.”
“Dawn, what happened?” Tara asked.
Dawn shook her head. “I’m not sure. We just woke up here. The last thing I remember is Willow and you practicing that new spell.”
“Oh, I knew that spell was wonky. I am so sorry!” Willow muttered.
“It’s okay. We’re all okay now. Let’s go home, huh?” Tara said. “I’ll make you brownies.”
“Sounds good,” Dawn answered.
None of the group noticed the two people watching the reunion.
“Are you going to miss them, luv?” Spike asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
Buffy shrugged. “I’m not sure. I lived without them for 147 years and was only really here for a few weeks. It almost seems like a dream…besides, I have you. You’re all I need.” She turned in his arms to smile at him. “So, what say we try that little thought of yours out?”
Spike grinned. “I like the way you think, pet, but what if we move the setting to the beach?” He looked up at the sky. “’Ts been a long time since I been in the sun, think I wanna try out these new powers.”
“Is there sun in Tibet or is it one of those rainy countries like England?” Buffy asked.
“Oi! No making fun of England. And yes, there is sun in Tibet,” Spike answered. He reached out and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go luv, we got a long trip and a long time ahead of us.”
Buffy wrinkled her nose. “I know, it’s like longer...and then forever and a day after that.” She held up the orb and inspected it. “So, that Brother Vincent guy is in here and the essence of the Key is split between both our bodies, huh?” She tapped on the glass orb with her thumb nail.
“Buffy, don’t tap the bad man’s essence,” Spike said.
“But it’s fun,” she answered.
“Buffy, give me the orb.”
“Hmm, no.” Buffy grinned wickedly at him. “Catch me and you can have it.” She took off running, her laughter trailing after her.
Spike grinned and took off after her. Yeah, un-life was suddenly a whole lot brighter.
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