Buffy's Room
Midterms were coming and Buffy sat with her notes strewn about and Spike sitting at the foot of her bed. "Get that for me?" Buffy asked, pointing at the book that was on the floor next to him.
"Piss off," he replied with a smile. "Why can't you? I'm comfy."
Buffy pointed to her midsection, which was getting very rounded. "I can't." she retorted with a growl.
"Relax, love. I was going to get it for you anyway." He picked it up and handed it to her.
She flipped through it, hoping to find her notes from last week stuffed in the pages. She had a habit of forgetting her notebooks and writing on whatever was available. She flipped it over and shook out the pages. A yellow post-it fluttered out and onto the bed. She snatched it before Spike could see. Not that he could. He was busy playing with his lighter.
---"Buffy, I want you to have this. Wear it or not, we'll still be friends. Always, Spike."---
It was her post-it he had attached to the jewelry box he had given her last month on Valentine's Day. That it was beautiful, she could not deny. She had put it on and hadn't taken it off since (except to shower, of course). It was nice to have a friend that didn't have someone else. She always felt like a third wheel intruding on Willow and Tara or Xander and Anya. Not to mention, when they weren't busy off on patrols with Faith, they always wanted to do things like dancing and amusement parks. Nothing like being a fifth wheel. Spike was always there to talk to, if not always ideal. He could be caustic and rude, but sometimes, like now, he could be very companionable.
"I wonder what everyone is doing at the shop." Buffy asked aloud.
It had been a very loud 'discussion' that Giles had with Buffy when she returned from L.A. She was not to patrol or hunt. She was not to even assist at the shop for fear that something could get to her there too. She was to stay at home or at school. Buffy had protested most vehemently, but she was finally forced to concede. Even though the shop was warded, Anya had been taken from there; the wards could only warn of hostile intent, not prevent it. She was in no condition to fight; she must think of her children first. It was best to stay away from all things concerning her fate. Faith would be able to take care of everything. Willow and Tara placed a spell of distortion on her that night, that would hide her true identity to prevent demons who were seeking her out from finding her. It would work for as long as she didn't fight any demons.
Now she had everything she had hoped for. A normal life, with no such thing as slaying, with the only abnormality being a vampire at the foot of her bed and unborn Oracles in her womb. What about after they were born? Her mom and Dawn and everyone could help to take care of them, but who could protect them against the brand of enemy that was always hunting her down, with nothing more than her demise as their prize? The answer was simple, she didn't know.
"Not so fun being impotent, eh love?" Spike asked idly, interrupting her thoughts, still playing with his lighter.
"Not that you'd know anything about that I'm sure," Buffy countered slyly.
"That's not what I meant. What I meant was, not so fun not being able to do what you were meant to do." Spike quickly covered for the err in his speech before.
Buffy sighed, studying forgotten. She yawned and curled up at the head of her bed with the books still scattered around her and nodded. "I miss slaying. I was good at it. Even though it made my life off the wall, I liked it. I know I'll be getting back to it before I know it, but I can't stand not being able to even know what's going on."
"I know, love. But you know it's for the good of you and the tots. Mostly you."
Spike turned to see Buffy sleeping soundly. He cleared the books off the bed and placed them in a pile on her desk. Pulling the covers she had kicked aside before she started studying over her, he couldn't help being awed by her. She was more beautiful than ever, the heaviness of child only adding to it. She was wearing the silver heart he had given her for Valentine's Day.
He still remembered when she confronted him about it the next day.
February 15
She had been waiting for him when he finally arrived after midnight. She watched him come in through the window and stalked over to him before he could take a step further into her room. Pointing to her neck, she asked "What's this, Spike?"
*My heart, I gave it to you.* William the poet replied.
Spike, however responded "Don't get yourself all worked up, love. It's just a little something I saw and thought of you. I missed Christmas and your birthday after all. I-". He cut himself off before his rambling got out of control.
Buffy's expression softened. She knew that it was a Valentine's Day present, but was too polite to point it out to Spike. She knew how he felt about her. If she hadn't known it by the end of that night (could that have only been four and a half months ago?) when he told her how he had killed the other Slayers, she had to know now. Buffy reached up on tiptoe to brush her lips against his cheek and said, "Thank you. It's beautiful."
Spike was dumb with shock. When he collected his senses, she had already plopped back onto her bed to continue with her reading for the next day. She wore it everyday, but they never spoke about the necklace again.
Today
Leaving the sleeping Buffy alone, he slipped out her window. He could use the front door, but force of habit kept him using the window. He made sure that it was closed behind him and swung down the thick mass of branches until he reached the ground.
Walking with a purpose, he lit a cigarette and arrived at the Magic Box just as he finished it.
The Magic Box
"So as you see, the portents of evil are heavy in the air." Giles concluded as Spike walked through the door.
Xander turned to see who had arrived and smirked. "Speak of the devil…."
Spike ignored him and took a place next to Willow. She was the only one who didn't seem to hate him being here. He hadn't noticed before, the others were only barely able to tolerate him, thanks to Buffy. But at least he was at the table. Faith was sitting on the counter with her legs swinging out in front of her and when she wasn't looking he snatched a peek at her face. It was almost wistful - which was a far cry from the easy grin she usually wore. Xander, Anya, Tara, Willow, Spike, Giles, and Wesley made up a closed circle which she somehow couldn't pierce.
Not that anyone had been rude. They were always nice to her and constantly thanked her for what she was doing for Buffy. Buffy. She was just a temporary replacement until the all powerful B came back to take her rightful place. No, those weren't good thoughts, she reminded herself. Buffy was doing something important, and this was her chance to make up all the horrible things she had done to her before. She really wanted to. She was even looking forward to going back to jail. At least there, she was supposed to be alone.
She hopped off the counter and walked until she was just behind the group, and asked brightly, "So what's next? What kind of demon do I have to kill to save the world this time?"
"She goes by the name Glory, and Buffy must be the one to face her. Since Buffy has been hiding from the forces of darkness, Glory has been summoning all sorts of things to wreak havoc and to draw Buffy out of hiding. She doesn't know about you. She only knows that she can't find Buffy; she must not learn of Buffy's condition. You must fight those demons until Buffy can fight their queen."
Faith snapped her fingers and stated with a diffident smile, "I'm there. When do I start?"
Sunnydale High School
Buffy walked down the corridors of her high school, surprised to be there. It looked just as it had before she had blown it up. If everything was in black and white and she was the only thing in color.
It's only a dream, she thought to herself. But, she didn't feel like she did when she was confronted by the first slayer. That had been a sense of foreboding, knowing that she was to confront something. This was something completely different. Almost as if she could feel the evil in the non air.
"Buffy! Help me!"
Buffy turned to hear her sister's voice scream out in pain. She began to run in the direction that it had come from and suddenly the corridor nearly tripled in length.
"Buffy please! Hurry!"
"I'm coming Dawn, hang on!" She called breathlessly as she kept running.
Finally, she came to the end of the hallway and to the entrance of the auditorium. She was about to kick open the door when the floor under her collapsed and flames leapt up from the pit that was suddenly formed. That's funny, that wasn't always there, Buffy thought again to herself. The doors blew open to reveal an audience full of all sorts of nasties in full color.
"Buffy!" Dawn called hopefully from the stage, where she was trapped in some medieval torture device. It looked like as though she was set up to be drawn and quartered, but two beds of spikes were set up to puncture her a hundred times over between them, and as if that wasn't overkill enough, the whole contraption was turned horizontal so that her head was caught in the hole of a guillotine. The entire room looked over to her and clapped. She got a standing ovation. But Dawn's captor was not visible.
Buffy made ready to jump over the flames. She would fight three roomfuls of these monsters just so she could save Dawn. As she was about to take her running start, a tiny Giles appeared on her shoulder who shook his head and clucked disapprovingly. He was dressed in his normal clothing, but he had an angel costume complete with the pipe cleaner halo and filmy wings strapped to his back over it. Buffy stopped short and realized that if she fought, Willow and Tara's spell would be broken.
The illusion vanished and the dream slipped away.
The Magic Box
The group dispersed as Faith was dispatched to check out a rash of comas that had been brought on by nothing to otherwise healthy people. Five in three weeks. The news reports blamed a faulty tank at the water purification plant, but this being the Hellmouth, they all knew otherwise.
Xander and Anya excused themselves, saying that they needed to go to his place to study. Never mind that neither of them attended school.
With Tara sifting through the rest of the latest shipment of books, and Giles and Wesley talking quietly by the counter, Willow was left sitting at the table with Spike.
She managed a small smile and asked, "So how's Buffy?"
Spike looked up startled, "What makes you think I know how Buffy is?"
Willow made a small gesture with her hand. "We all know you hang out with her. So just tell me, how's she doing?"
"She's fine. I was with her before I came here, I was just thinking about how -" Spike stopped and looked at her, incredulous. "How the bloody hell did you do that?"
Willow giggled a little and called out, "Tara, it worked!"
Tara appeared at Willow's shoulder and asked, "You really did it? How long did it last?"
"Only a few seconds, but it finally worked!"
"Would you two broomstick riders mind telling what you're talking about?"
Willow giggled a little more and answered, "Its sort of a witchy version of the 'Jedi Mind Trick' from the Star Wars movies. We've been working on it for weeks. So, what were you thinking about, Spike?"
Spike stood up and glowered at her. "I don't have to take this anymore, I'm leaving," he stated with a strange dignity.
Tara and Willow looked at each other and shrugged as he breezed out the door.
The Bad Part of Town
The customers in the rest of the bar didn't even look up as the bartender slid face first down the length of the counter. Faith picked him up and set him up for his second ride. From under his head, a muffled plea.
"What was that? I didn't hear you." She spoke roughly as she lifted his head up and with it his mashed lips from the countertop.
"I'll tell you anything. Just stop ok? You're worse than the other girl." Faith smiled at that and let him stand upright. "Geez, you could at least ask the questions first and _then_ start beating me up."
"Tell me who's been causing all the vegetables." Faith demanded, leaning conspiratorially on the bar.
"Vegetables? I don't know anything about vegetables. Customer's don't ask for them much." Willy replied and was rewarded with a bloody nose. "All right, all right. There's a new demon in town. Goes by the name Vermithrax. Feeds on energy in dreams, then leaves the people or other demons for dead. He got a couple of my regulars too."
"Where is he?" She asked pulling him to eye level by his shirt collar.
"I don't know," Faith reached back to throw a punch, and Willy threw up his arms to block his face, "I don't! I've never seen him, no one has."
Faith released him to the floor and banged out the door of the bar.
Willy got up, still clutching at his wounded nose. "Definitely worse than the other one."
Buffy's House
"Buffy!" Joyce Summers called up the stairs. "Buffy, you're going to be late for your appointment with Dr. Everhart!" Hearing no reply, she turned to her younger daughter. "Dawn could you please go wake Buffy?"
Dawn plunked her spoon back onto the table from her cereal bowl and ran through the living room to stand at the bottom of the stairs and scream "BUFFY!"
Joyce gave her a Look from the kitchen and Dawn sighed. Running up the stairs, she thought about her cereal getting soggier by the second. Finally, she burst through Buffy's door, to find her sister still curled up in bed.
"Buffy? Buffy!" she shook Buffy shoulders and managed to get a murmur about needing to go back to sleep. Dawn moved until her face was an inch away from Buffy's. "Buffy, are you getting up or not? Mom's going to be mad." Another murmur and Buffy rolled over with her back facing Dawn.
Nightfall
After checking on Buffy herself, Joyce decided that she must have needed the sleep so she called Dr. Everhart back and cancelled the day's appointment. Buffy hadn't gotten up all day and when Spike arrived in the evening, she was still asleep. Joyce offered him some hot cocoa while they waited for her to get up.
Spike seemed like a nice boy, despite being a vampire and almost a hundred and fifty years old. He came to visit Buffy almost every night, helped around the house and Dawn even liked him. She had asked Buffy if there was something going on between them a few weeks back. Buffy had only fingered the filigree heart around her neck and replied that Spike was just a friend. He didn't talk about himself much, mostly lending an ear to the day's problems and sometimes offering advice. But, Joyce knew that he felt for Buffy.
After an hour passed and the hot cocoa from their cups was gone, Spike excused himself and went up the stairs to see Buffy and wait in her room for her to wake.
Opening her door, he prepared himself for the lovely sight of Buffy sleeping. He was surprised by how cold her room was. Having no internal temperature himself, he felt when places were too cold or too hot. Pushing the door wider, he saw her and stopped short. She was sound asleep, but it was wrong. She had turned ashy pale, almost gray, and upon every exhalation, he could see the little puff of steam from her mouth.
Quickly, he turned from the room and ran down the stairs and out the front door, leaving Joyce looking after him, puzzled.
The Dungeon
Buffy struggled against her chains. Another dream. She had passed in and out of at least a dozen, remembering none. All she knew is they all ended with her deciding not to fight. She discovered that she didn't even need to lift a finger in her dreams. But this was all together different again.
A mist collected around her feet and rose to tower three feet above her. The mist coalesced into a form, an eight foot tall man with a bald head, wearing red robes. He pinched her chin between his forefinger and thumb. "My dear, you are not giving the energy I know you have. So much energy, so much power. Share with me?"
Buffy wrenched her face out of his clasp and went limp. "I will not fight you. "
The demon laughed and bent down so that he was looking in her face. "You do not have to fight. Your life force will be mine soon enough and I will have with me the power of the Slayer." He didn't mention her children and she looked down, seeing only her feet.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked at him again. How did he find her though? Catching Buffy's look, he continued, "How did I find you my dear? These are dreams. They don't take place in the head on your body! They take place in your mind, your soul. I simply had to look for you."
Buffy struggled against her chains, willing herself to wake up. Vermithrax's laughter continued. "You can't stop me Slayer. You're all alone."
The Magic Box
"His name is Vermithrax. He feeds on energy as people sleep." Faith concluded her findings for everyone in the shop.
"How-?" Willow began.
Spike burst in through the doors. His face was wracked with a strange mixture of hope and agony. "We have to help Buffy. She can't wake up and I think there's a demon in her head."
Xander's feet came down off the table with a thud and everyone whipped their faces around to Spike.
"Vermithrax." Giles stated colorlessly.
Wesley spoke up. "I read about an occurrence like this. Rupert, do you have the 'Metranglore'?"
"Why yes I do, but I don't remember anything about Vermithrax in there," Giles replied searching for the book on the shelf. Finding it, he placed it in Wesley's hands.
Wesley paged through swiftly and came to a passage at the end of the book. "A creature who lives on the energy from the soul's dreams. He will go by many names and prey on many. Humans and demons alike. He prefers humans to demons because of the soul's ability to create richer dreams. He was banished by an order of monks when he made the mistake of revealing his true form outside of the mind. He can only be called by she who has no name. Glory." Wesley finished and looked up, stricken.
"How do we save Buffy?" Willow asked worriedly.
"A spell follows the passage. It requires a creature with no soul, who loves the sleeper enough to fight for her in her dreams. Where will we ever find that? We all have souls except - "
They all turned to Spike and he was already speaking, "I'll do it."
Buffy's House
Joyce opened the door to find Giles, Wesley, Spike, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya and Faith on her doorstep. She was surprised to see Faith, but remembered that Buffy had said that she was taking over the Slayer duties until the twins were born. "What's wrong with Buffy?" She asked Giles as he came through the door, "I can't wake her up."
While the others were filing up the stairs, Spike placed a hand on Joyce's shoulder, "We'll save her."
Willow and Anya both gave Dawn a hug as they passed her and finally, they were all in Buffy's room. Anya shivered visibly and they began.
They moved her bed out from the wall and Spike was directed to lie in bed next to Buffy. As he lay down, Spike checked his pocket again to make sure he had the item Giles had given him. Willow, Tara, Giles and Wesley used small amounts of colored powder to create symbols on the floor around the bed. Faith, Xander and Anya lit the candles. They joined hands, creating a circle around Spike and Buffy. It began.
Willow, Tara and Giles recited the proper Words as the others echoed them. The power of the spell swelled and created a burst of light which first rose and crashed into the bed between Spike and Buffy.
The Dungeon
Buffy stopped pulling on her chains and looked around hopefully for something that she could break out of them with. There was nothing and no one there. Just bare rock wall with other sets of chains and a single torch that only threw everything into weird shadows instead of lighting the place. She heard sudden movement and turned her head to look. She saw a figure stumbling and heard "Bloody hell, my head."
It can't be, she thought to herself. "Spike?"
He appeared before her and smiled, before raising an axe in front of her face and swinging. Buffy braced herself and found her hands free of the chains.
Vermithrax appeared in a ball of fire and exclaimed surprised when he saw Spike. Buffy took the axe from Spike and began swinging. The fight was on.
Buffy's Room
Willow gasped as Buffy and Spike began to move. But they weren't really moving. They seemed to ripple within their skins without really moving. She grasped Tara's and Giles' hands more tightly and willed their friends to come back and come back unharmed.
The Dungeon
Vermithrax was beaten. He just didn't want to admit it. As his power diminished, Buffy and Spike easily freed themselves from the illusions he placed before them. Finally, Buffy willed her axe to be a sword, raised it and ran at Vermithrax. She caught him in the shoulder and kept running. She impaled him on the wall and ran the sword in all the way to the hilt. "Spike now!"
Spike reached into his pocket and pulled out the frosted glowing cube. He opened it and said the words that Wesley had instructed. Vermithrax screamed again and dissolved into mist. The mist was pulled into the cube. When the last of it was inside, the cube snapped shut and stopped glowing.
Buffy pulled the sword out of the wall and walked over to Spike. Figuring it was just a dream, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him lightly on the lips and murmured, "My hero."
He reached around to the back of her head and they kissed again, longer this time. What a dream, Buffy thought to herself.
Suddenly, she felt her pillow under her head and her sheets under her body. She stretched and turned to get out of bed. Buffy opened her eyes to see blue ones staring back at her.
"Anytime, love." Spike replied.