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Angel: The Series > AtS - Future
Second Chance by rockangelz25
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Spike slid onto the bar stool. He didn’t look at the people around him, didn’t try to see if he knew any of them. The other demons could have the world. Things had changed so much. Peaches was gone. Yeah, not the best guy in the universe—more of a ponce than anything else—but still, the guy was his grandsire. You only get one of those.

And Fred had died a long time ago. Blue, she was fine—a little injured from the fight, but she seemed to draw strength from it. There was no way to get Fred back now, and it was miserable to watch Illyria parade around in Fred’s body. Charlie was gone, so was Wesley.

The world, his world of Happy Meals on legs, was shot. Even Buffy was gone now. Yeah, not dead, but in Rome with the Immortal—and that was bad enough. Little Bit was almost all grown—she’d be in college soon, if she wasn’t already. Andrew, a sorry sight if there ever was one, had girls—girls with an “s”, one on each arm!—and had managed to change since Sunnydale.

What had Spike done? Come back from the dead, make peace with his grandsire, and watch a whole bunch of other people die. Lorne wasn’t dead, but he might as well be. He was gone. He didn’t care what happened to the rest of them. Real shame; Spike could’ve gone with him, writing him songs and the like. Some of the worst poetry, he’d discovered via the radio, got turned into some of the hottest pop hits of the day.

The bar stool next to him suddenly had a tallish figure on it. Not too tall—but tall enough to meet his eye. “Beer,” she told the bartender. He nodded, starting to turn away. She grabbed his sleeve. “None of that crap you tried to give me last time,” she said. There was a vague threat in her voice. He nodded again. She let him go, wiping her hand on her jeans.

Spike recognized her voice. “ ‘Lo,” he told the Dark Slayer.

“Spike?” She looked at him. “You’re supposed to be extra crispy, with a side of hellmouth.”

“Yeah, well, what can I say?” He shrugged at her. “Someone didn’t want me to stay that way.”

“That bad or good?” She recognized his tone—there wasn’t an actual tone, it was between ominous and pleased.

“It was bad. But he’s dead now. They’re all dead now.” He shook his head.

“What do you mean, they’re all dead now?” She jumped down.

“They’re all gone, Slayer. The only ones left are me and Green—and I don’t even know if he’s still around.”

“Green…. Who’s green?”

“Lorne. Singing demon, he was. He could read your aura, see what was in your future.”

Faith’s frown deepened a little. She knew that there was something she was forgetting about the guy, something about L.A… Maybe it just wasn’t important.

“He’s gone now?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait. You said, ‘they’re all dead’. Who did you mean? Who’s ‘they’?”

“Cordelia went first,” he said softly. “She was in the hospital. The Powers that Whatsit let her spirit come out and do some fighting, save the day. But she never woke up, the hospital told us. She died. Then it was Fred. Some bastard took her, made her into his goddess.”

“Fred?”

“Nuclear physicist—she’s not now, though. She’s Blue, now. Illyria, her real name is. Then it was Wes.”

“Wes? Wes died? How?” Faith didn’t even know that she still cared about her old watcher. Of course she did, though.

“Some magic guy. We took on the worst evil there is now, the Senior Partners. Wes went up against a magician who was stronger than he was. Took it in the stomach, from what Blue said. She avenged him. The girl that she was—Fred—loved Wesley before she died. Romeo and Juliet, it was.”

“Okay… There’s more, isn’t there?” She knew it. She didn’t want to hear it, but she knew it.

“Charlie-boy took on Senator Bitch. A real witch trying to take control of Washington, very fond of vampires. He got the job done. He killed her tame vamps, too. But then… Then I guess one of them got him. He didn’t tell us how. Blue said he’d last ten more minutes. He lasted a lot longer, but he couldn’t keep fighting inside and out.”

“Angel. What about Angel?” She crossed her arms.

“He took on the liaison we had to the senior partners. Beat the guy, too. We all met up, so’s we could fight whatever hell the senior partners wanted to give us. Charlie lasted a long time—Blue could’ve gone on forever. Angel was tired, Faith. He made one mistake. I slayed his dragon for him, though. Dragon was the one that did him in. Got his head.”

“They’re all dead, then.” Her voice was flat.

“Yeah. Senior Partners didn’t stay after Blue and me, though. Don’t know why—‘m bloody grateful, though. And now I’m just staying away. It’s not like there’s anywhere for me to go.” He shrugged, looking around. “Pretty much alone here, Faith.”

“Let’s go.” She grabbed him by his duster, pulling him after her.

“Your beer?” called the bartender from behind her.

“Save it for next time,” she shouted back, not looking over her shoulder. The words got lost in the noisy bar.

**

“I got this in the mail,” said Faith, holding out an envelope to Spike. They were out on the streets of Los Angeles. It was pretty quiet out, which wasn’t too strange for this time.

“Looks like a letter,” he deadpanned, giving it back to her.

“It was. Look at the return address.”

“It’s all… Huh. It’s all smudged,” he said, trying to read it.

“It’s for you,” she said.

“Has your name on it, love.” He pointed to the address.

“Look at the inside.” She urged him on.

He shrugged—no point in not humoring the Slayer, not right now anyway. He pulled out the letter.

It unfolded with the breeze, and he read it.

‘My Knight. This letter was addressed to the Slayer—all dark with the night’s stars, just like daddy. The stars of the sky spoke to me yesterday, while the sun was smiling down at me. But she will give it to you.
They talked to me, the stars, and told me that the nasty Powers sent you a present. It’s pretty, all wrapped up in ribbons. But there’s only something inside, some little thing. It’s going to bite if you aren’t careful. You can only have your present once, William. After it flies away, you cannot run after it.
Make a wish, William.
~~Drusilla~~’

He looked back up at Faith. “Dru sent you a letter?” He couldn’t keep from laughing. “Didn’t know she could come out of her insanity for long enough.”

“Did you understand any of that? Only reason I figured it was for you was because you used to be ‘William the Bloody’, and I remembered Drusilla’s name. Buffy used to talk about her.”

“Buffy,” said Spike softly. If what Dru said was true—and that was a pretty big question in itself—he could use this wish for anything. He could make Buffy love him.

“Spike?” He jerked a little. “Did you hear anything that I just said?”

“Yeah. I got it—got it all. Letter, and everything. It’s all making perfect sense.”

“Good. I found you, something I didn’t think I’d do—you being dead and all—deader than usual, that is.” She turned to walk back into the bar, then stopped. “She says you can make a wish?”

“Any wish that I want,” said Spike, thinking of his perfect Slayer. He couldn’t wait to be with her again.

“Spike. Don’t do anything to Buffy.”

“What?” He came out of it.

“Don’t use that wish on her. She’s not happy, Spike. Not in Rome, and not with the Immortal, and definitely not both. She’s going to come around on her own—especially if she finds out she’s got another option.”

“She has?”

“You’re here,” Faith said. “She hasn’t stopped thinking about you, Blondie. She’s just with the Immortal as a matter of convenience; and to scare all the vampires in town. She needs something now, something to—”

“Something to make her feel,” said Spike, remembering their own little song.

“Yeah, kind of. But she says it’s nothing like you.”

“Does she, now? And what does she say about me?”

“Not a lot. She thinks it, and writes it. She can’t talk to Dawn about it, and she won’t talk to Andrew about it. That pretty much leaves me.”

“What did she say?” His voice was dangerous now, and she almost shuddered—almost. But she was the Slayer, and he was a vampire. There was less to be afraid of.

“She misses you. That’s what it all comes to.”

“That’s it, huh? She misses me.”

“No. It’s what she misses about you, how much she misses you, and all that kind of stuff. The Immortal understands. He doesn’t really care, either.”

“Actors, both of them,” said Spike.

Faith just nodded.

“Well, good on them.”

She turned back to the bar, then back to Spike again. “What are you going to wish for?”

“Don’t know yet, pet. I’m thinking.”

There were lots of things. Buffy—that was what he wanted most. But if what Faith here said was true, then she’d just get pissed if he used that wish on her.

He could bring Peaches and the rest of them back—even Fred. Wasn’t like he’d miss Blue that much, anyway. But then, what if they were all in some kind of happy place? He didn’t want to pull them away—like the witch had done to Buffy, those years ago.

So that ruled out bringing up the dead.

Some part of him wanted to do something for Drusilla. She had brought him into a new world, shown him things he’d never imagined. The kindest thing would be to give her a soul… But, then, Drusilla was already insane. Using himself and Peaches as examples of souled vampires, that probably wouldn’t do her any real favors.

There wasn’t much he wanted. Well, yeah, there was—but he’d work for it. Never one to go for the easy way out; he hadn’t asked for a sodding gypsy curse to get his soul, had he? He’d fought for it, hadn’t he? Anything he wanted, he’d fight for it and work for it. He’d make it his, not let some fool do it for him.

Faith, then. What did she want? From looking at her, she wanted decent clothes, a decent shag, food, and someplace to stay. Not that she’d ever say it, of course.

“What would you wish for?”

“I don’t know. Maybe some good stuff to happen between me and Robin, because that’s pretty much over now. Or—I’d try to get my police record to go away. The Watcher’s Council refuses to let me back in prison. They seem to feel that it would be more beneficial to have all available Slayers active. You have no idea how many Slayers are like Dana, or unprepared in other ways.”

“You’d wish it all away, huh?”

“We’d all know what happened,” said Faith. It wasn’t like she hadn’t had this conversation with Giles before.

“Watchers Council is back, then?”

“Giles has a nice little thing set up—the general Scoobies, and some friends of the other Slayers. There were a couple of Watchers that Caleb didn’t get. He was thinking of taking Wesley…” Her voice trailed away. Slayer obviously still cared about the guy.

“Right, then. See you later.” She nodded at him in response, then walked back into the bar. He suspected that he’d be downing several shots to drown out this news.

He started walking down the street. There were a few cars—one police car, lights off. “The fugitive just went into that bar,” said one of the officers inside. “Call for backup. The last time she was in town, there were multiple injuries. There’s no way we could take her on our own.” The other agreed, pushing a button on the police radio.

Spike didn’t listen to the rest of it. He kept on walking.

**

Faith looked up. Two officers—she’d seen them before, the last time she was here. They had a purpose here. She heard sirens wailing, and guessed that there were more cops on the way. She slapped some money down on the counter. “Thanks, Willy,” she told the bartender as she turned away.

“Miss? The name’s Frank,” he told her.

“Whatever.” She wasn’t even paying attention to him anymore.

“Faith,” said one of the officers. “We should probably do this quietly.”

She stretched. “Should we?”

“Yes. It won’t take much bother.” He held out a paper. A black and white photo was on it. “Have you seen this man?” It was a picture of someone she vaguely recalled from Wolfram and Hart—that woman, Lilah Morgan, had taken her through there with Lee. He’d been one of the people inside.

“No,” she answered. There was no point to telling him that yes, she’d seen the guy a few years ago inside of an evil law firm. But was this some kind of a test? What the hell was going on?

“All right. If you see him, let us know. With your record, you can’t be too careful to make sure nobody makes mistakes. Have a safe night, Faith. And here—” He held out an ID. “You dropped this outside on the pavement. You never know what’s out there.” The officer smiled, then walked away. His partner taped another copy of the paper on the wall behind the bar, patted Frank on the shoulder, then walked after him.

**

“Spike!” yelled Faith down the street. The wind blew a piece of scrap paper to her. She picked it up. “…bite if you aren’t careful. You can only have…” she read off of it. She looked back up.

“Spike!” she yelled again.

He walked on down the street. He could almost hear someone calling his name. “I did it my way,” he sang softly under his breath.




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