Lashing Out

“Where the bloody hell would she go?” Spike growled, wheeling his chair
around to face his sire. The two were searching for Willow, something they
had been doing ever since the sun had set a little over an hour before.
“We’ve checked just about everywhere!”

“No, we haven’t. There... there is one place,” Angel whispered as he ran a
weary hand over his face.

“And what’s that supposed to mean? If you knew where she was and didn’t say
anything...”

“I wasn’t sure,” Angel said when his childe trailed off, unable to come up
with a violent enough threat that could be carried out from a wheelchair.
“I had hoped... I didn’t want to be right, I guess. I just didn’t want to
believe that she’d go there,” the older vampire muttered, clearly agitated.
After a moment, understanding came into Spike’s eyes.

“You think she went to visit the others, don’t you?”

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Faith stumbled back in shock, almost as if she had been physically pushed.
“Angelus?” she repeated as she scanned the neat row of tombstones once more.
“Angelus did this? Why didn’t he kill you, too?” She looked back at
Willow, whose eyes were filling with tears. “Damn it. I shouldn’t have
asked that. Sorry. Look, Red, we’ve got to get you out of here,” the
brunette Slayer said as she reached for the redhead’s arm, grateful when the
other girl didn’t try to pull away. She didn’t really want to hurt Willow,
but she would if it meant getting the other girl out of there and getting
her to safety. “You look like a strong breeze could blow you over, and I’m
not really up to fighting with Angelus right this minute,” Faith continued
as she pulled Willow to her feet, missing the confused look that crossed the
redhead’s face.

During her run to the cemetery, clarity had come to Willow, and she had
realized that it was Angel, truly Angel, that she had run from. She’d
startled him... or something like that, and he’d turned to her in game face,
but he was still the Angel that she knew. By the time that had come to her,
however, she was nearly to the graveyard, and she had been unable to stop
herself from going the rest of the way. Willow knew where her friends were
buried, she’d known that from the beginning, but Angel had kept her away
from their graves, perhaps afraid that seeing the proof that all of her
friends were gone forever would harm her even more. He hadn’t understood
that she needed to visit their graves; she needed to say goodbye as best she
could, and she hadn't been ready to tell him. So, she had come here, she
had seen the final resting place of those she loved, and she had been
planning to go back home afterwards. Now it looked like Faith had other
plans, and Willow just didn’t feel up to fighting with the other girl over
it.

Faith kept Willow close as she led the redhead out of the cemetery, looking
over her shoulder as she navigated her way around the grave markers. She
bit her lip nervously as she scanned the area around her, in search of the
vampire she had once known as Angel. In search of Angelus.

Angelus.

It wasn’t that Faith was afraid of the vampire; it wasn’t really in her
makeup to be afraid of much of anything. She was, after all, a Slayer, and
that meant she had the power and ability to fight and kill demons. And
vampires definitely fell under the category of demons. Even so, the fact
that Angelus had been able to kill Buffy, as well as most of her friends,
made the brunette uneasy. If Buffy couldn’t save her friends from Angelus,
then how was Faith supposed to manage to save Willow from Angelus if he were
to suddenly show up? She had no clue, and she didn’t particularly want to
find out.

A movement at the other end of the cemetery told her she was about to be
forced to find out, though.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

“Oh, my God,” Angel muttered as he realized that he was indeed seeing what
he thought he was seeing. “She’s with Faith.”

“Faith?” Spike sputtered, straining to see from his spot in his wheelchair.
“As in, the crazy Slayer who tried to kill you all? That Faith?”

“One and the same,” Angel said distractedly before taking off in the
direction Willow and Faith were headed. “Willow, wait!” he cried as he made
his way through the cemetery.

“You can’t have her!” Faith declared as she pushed Willow behind her, her
hand immediately reaching for her stake. “You’re not going to touch her!”

“Faith, you don’t understand...” Angel began, only to be cut off by right
hook to the jaw. He winced as he ducked her second blow, his hand going to
his cheek. Apparently, Faith had gotten stronger since he’d last fought
her.

“Don’t try to sell me any stories, Angelus, ‘cause I’m not buying,” Faith
informed him coldly as she went in for another attack.

Angel cursed as he caught a punch to the gut, and he lashed out with his
foot, sweeping Faith’s feet out from under her and taking the girl with him
as he fell. Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, only to be knocked down
once again when Faith grabbed him around the knees and tackled him.

Willow watched the fight with wide eyes, and she jumped when cold hands
closed on her shoulders. She jerked her head to find Spike kneeling
painfully in front of her, his wheelchair just a few feet behind him.

“It’s okay, baby, you’re going to be okay...” Spike told her, trailing off
when the redhead virtually threw herself into his arms. Smiling slightly at
the unexpected action, the blonde vampire turned to check on the fight,
trying to keep Willow from seeing what was happening, but he wasn’t
successful.

“Oh, Goddess, they’re going to kill each other.”

The words were spoken softly enough, barely more than a whisper, but they
seemed as loud as a scream to the vampire that was holding her. His mouth
dropping open, he turned to look at the redhead in his arms. “Willow?” he
managed, shock evident on his handsome face.

“We’ve got to stop them,” the girl whispered, seemingly unaware of the cause
of Spike’s wonder. “Please, Spike, we’ve got to stop them.”

Somehow managing to force himself from his stunned stupor, the blonde
vampire turned once more to face his sire and the Slayer. It was obvious
that Faith was fighting to kill, and Angel was merely fighting to subdue.
It was also clear who was going to win.

Without allowing himself to consider the consequences, only thinking about
what it would do to Willow to see Angel killed, Spike used all of the
strength he could muster from his nearly useless legs to fling himself at
the Slayer, who was currently lifting a stake above her head in preparation
for staking his sire. He hit her squarely and rolled with her, trying to
ignore the pain that coursed through his weak body as he grabbed her wrists.

Faith fought viciously against the blonde that was currently on top of her,
quickly reversing their positions and preparing to stake the obviously weak
vampire.

“Faith, no! Don't hurt him!”

All movement stopped at the sound of the words, and all three of them -
Angel, Faith, and Spike - turned to looked at the redhead who yelled them.

“Willow?” Angel finally managed after what seemed like an eternity. The
stunned vampire was at Willow’s side in an instant, wrapping her in his
arms, not even noticing when Faith made a move to stop him. However, when
Willow hugged him back, clearly glad to see Angel and happy that he was
okay, the brunette stopped and turned to Spike, confused.

“That’s... that’s not Angelus,” she stated quietly.

“No, it’s not,” the bleached blonde agreed as he pushed himself into a
sitting position.

“I’m confused. Willow said that Angelus...”

“He did.”

“Then how...?”

Sighing, Spike turned to look at his sire and the slender redhead who was
crying in his arms, then looked back at the clearly confused Slayer. “It’s
kind of complicated.”

“I love complicated.”

“Well now, then if you help me get back into that bloody wheelchair over
there, and help pry Peaches away from Red, we can head back to the house and
have story time.”

“Works for me,” Faith said with a sigh as she reached down to help Spike up.
 

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