Chapter 4
Author’s note: I’m getting a lot of “you killed Spike, bring him back” reviews. Hello people, like I’d leave him dead. Thanks for the trust. Please review. I’ve been having a hard time and I need some cheering up. Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled story.
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“Can you stand the wait? Cause you know that I’ll be gone so long
And I’ve been living with your devil too long and I’ve been living with these arms closed”
-Three Mile Pilot
Anya slammed the door to the library shut. “Xander, get your bags, we need to go,” she demanded as she headed back to their living quarters.
“Whoa, Ahn, wait a minute. I can’t go anywhere, you know that. Did you stop by Spike and Buffy’s?”
“Yes, and we need to go. Hoffy is letting you take an emergency leave.”
“I have emergency leaves? How come I didn’t know this?”
“You didn’t, now you do.”
“Wait, what’s going on? What happened at Spike and Buffy’s?”
Anya threw the suitcase down on their bed and began shoving clothes into it. “Look, one of the higher powers, you know the Powers, came down and requested that Hoffy give you an emergency leave.” Anya zipped her suitcase shut and began working on Xander’s.
He grabbed her arms and turned her to face him. “You need to tell me what’s going on.”
Anya threw her arms around his neck. “I love you. I do, you know. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wake up and think how glad I am that we made up after the wedding fiasco, and that I’ve gotten to spend the last two hundred years by your side.”
Xander wrapped his arms around her waist. “I love you too. I can’t imagine my life without you. If something ever happened to you…I-I’d go crazy, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“Spike…he dusted.”
Xander pulled back to look at her face. “What? Oh my god. When?”
“I-I don’t know. Buffy…she’s not well. She destroyed their house. I found her unconscious and there was blood all over. I tried to make her come home with me. I said that we’d take care of her, but she-she hit me, Xander and it hurt. I was only trying to help, why did she hit me?”
“Oh, Ahn, I’m sure that she didn’t mean it.”
“Then why’d she do it Xander? Why? She has his dust in an urn by her bed, and…she’s got back the red power ring.”
Xander paled, “I thought Dawn got rid of that right before…”
“She must have given it to Spike for safe keeping. I mean, he hates-hated magic. Buffy must have found it…She thinks it was Spike’s gift to her. You know how much he loved to give her jewelry on their big anniversary dates.”
“I know. Man, this would have been their two hundre…” he trailed off.
“What? What is it?”
Xander didn’t answer. He walked out of their living quarters and back into the library. In the middle of the library, a large book lay open on a wooden podium. Xander walked up to the book and began flipping through it.
“You’re looking through a book at a time like this?” Anya asked.
“Not just any book, Ahn. This is Sedina, the book of prophecies. Anytime, anywhere that a prophecy is said, it is automatically written in this book. When I first came here, I read through the parts that happened while Buffy was missing, and if I remember correctly-and demon librarian so I know I do-there was a passage from Drusilla…Oh here it is ‘When the years have passed by, the numbers reaching three digits, when redemption has come and gone and the mortals we know have faded, when the baby that couldn’t be has grown and defeated the evil men with briefcases, then daddy will return to me and he will bring back my Spike and his bride, and family will rule again.’ Um, sorry, it writes the prophecies as the seers say them,” Xander said.
“Oh my god, Xander, it was going to be their two hundredth anniversary…that’s three digits,” Anya said.
“And the baby that couldn’t be, that’s Connor. It’s talking about when Connor defeated the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart,” Xander added.
“And-and every mortal we know is dead. It’s just you, me, Spike, Buffy, and Angel and we’re all demons of some sort.”
“Hey, not a demon. Demon librarian, just immortal…so long as I follow my contract,” Xander said before looking back into the book. “Daddy will return to me and he will bring back my Spike,” he muttered.
“Daddy? What does that mean?”
“Angelus. Drusilla called Angelus her daddy. He was her sire…Oh, my god she’s gonna unleash Angelus. She’s going to use Angel’s soul to-“
“Resurrect Spike,” Anya finished. “What does Drusilla look like?”
“Um, kinda gothic. Long black hair, always in a white dress kind of a thing. Why?”
“There was a weird vampiress hanging outside Spike and Buffy’s house when I got there. She was talking to Angel.”
Xander snapped the book shut. “We gotta go. Now!”
XXX
Spike wrapped his arms around Buffy’s waist tighter and buried his face in the back of her head, letting his tears soak her hair.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” the Priest finished as the three coffins began to lower into the ground.
Buffy’s knees gave out and Spike had to haul her back against his chest to keep her from collapsing.
“NO! NO, you can’t do this. You can’t take them. Not my baby! Not my sister! NNOOOOOOOOO!” She broke loose from Spike’s grip and threw herself forward.
“Buffy! No!” Spike screamed, pulling her off the ground and into his arms.
She buried her face in his chest, her sobs shaking her entire body. “Not fair Spike. It’s not fair. Dawnie, she…and Taylor and…Oh, god Maddy! Maddy, our baby. They took our baby! Why? Why? Why?”
“I don’t know, luv. I don’t know,” Spike leaned his forehead against hers, his own tears falling off his face.
Buffy pulled away to look in his eyes. “Are we bad, Spike? Are we being punished? Is that why everyone we love dies?”
“No, no we’re not bad, pet. You are a good person, a good Slayer. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s MY punishment for all the bad I did before.”
“You’ve paid your time for that. You’ve been on the side of good for over thirty years.” Buffy framed his face with her hands.
“Yeah, but our daughter isn’t going to see her fifteenth birthday next week so what did that get us.” He leaned his forehead back against Buffy’s. “’M sorry, Buffy. If I’d been driving ‘stead of Nibblet…”Spike let out a sob.
Buffy buried her face back in his neck as Spike stroked her hair. A movement near a tree caught his eye and he locked glances with the man that stood half hidden in the shadows.
“Hey,” Willow said as she and Tara joined them.
Spike let go of Buffy so that they could accept the hugs from the two witches.
“I-if you n-need anything, let us know,” Tara said.
“Red, need you to watch Buffy for a moment. Got something I need to take care of,” Spike whispered in Willow’s ear as he hugged her.
“S-sure, anything you need,” Willow said.
“Buffy, luv, need you to stay with Red and Glinda a moment, okay?”
“Where-where are you going? You aren’t leaving me, are you?” Buffy’s eyes grew wide.
Spike pulled her into his arms. “No, no, never gonna leave you. Just need to talk to someone real quick, kay?”
“But you’ll be back, right?”
“Always come back for you, you know that.”
Buffy nodded and let her best friend pull her away from Spike’s retreating back. Willow had seen the man too, and for once in her life, she thought that turning a blind eye was a good idea.
The man watched as Spike approached him and nervously ran his fingers through his hair.
“What.Are.You.Doing.Here?” Spike ground out.
“I’m-I just…I know it doesn’t mean much, but I’m sorry, okay? I’ve-I’ve ruined your life and the life of your whole family. I’ve done…I’ve done a terrible, terrible thing, and I’ll never stop being sorry. I know you don’t care, but I’ve…I’m getting help now. I, um, I joined AA, you know with the twelve steps and all, and well, I’m supposed to apologize to all the people that my drinking has…hurt, and, well, I’m sorry,” the man finished quickly.
Spike starred at him, his eyes shifting from blue to yellow to blue again. “You’re sorry! Lemme get this right. You kill my daughter, my nephew, and my sister-in-law and you’re SORRY? You’ve crushed my brother-in-law and you’re SORRY! You’ve devastated MY WIFE and you’re SORRY? You have no idea how sorry you’re going to be,” Spike yelled, slamming the man into the tree.
“I-I-I-I-I-I a-a-am,” the man stuttered. “T-truly.”
“And you have the nerve to show up here AT THEIR FUNERAL AND TELL ME YOU’RE SORRY!” Spike’s face shifted to reveal his fangs.
“Oh my g-g-god, what are you?” the man cried out.
“I’m your judge, jury and executioner,” Spike answered sinking his fangs into the man’s neck. He hadn’t had human blood in decades, and to be honest, he didn’t enjoy what he was drinking now. He would have gladly forgone human blood until the end of time to have his family back.
When the man was drained, Spike dumped his body in a nearby crypt. It probably wouldn’t ever be found. He walked back over to where Buffy was still being comforted by Willow and Tara.
“I take it your talk had a good ending?” Willow asked.
Spike didn’t reply. He wrapped his arms around Buffy instead. “Let’s go home, luv.”
XXX
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