All characters belong to Joss Whedon, The WB Network, and 20th Century Fox. I am just a fan.

Buffy entered Glory’s mansion, slowly and carefully. Her heart was racing like never before and she could almost taste the fear as it engulfed her senses.

“This way,” she whispered to her friends.

All she carried was herself. No weapons, no nothing. It was all up to Willow and Tara to pull off the spell, while she distracted. She could do that. Not so hard...

“A-Are you OK, Buffy? I mean, you seem a little wigged out.”

“Will, I’m fine. Just nervous. It’s OK to be nervous, right?”

Willow smiled.

“I think we’re all nervous. Glory’s unlike anything we’ve ever fought before.”

“And Ben,” Buffy added.

“Ben? I thought he was on our side.”

“He tricked me and Spike. Well, not Spike. I wouldn’t listen to him. I thought I could trust Ben.”

Buffy put her head down as she walked down the hall.

“Is Spike...I mean, did Glory --?”

“No, he made it. Barely...but he’s fine.”

Suddenly, a voice broke into their thoughts.

“Well, well, well. Look who decided to grace us with her presence. I mean, I don’t remember inviting you to this little shindig, but --”

“My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail. Thought I’d crash anyway.”

Buffy put her hands on her hips as she faced Glory.

“Will, Tara, you know what to do,” Buffy said, not taking her eyes off her nemesis.

Willow and Tara scurried off with Anya following, and Xander and Giles took a step forward to stand with Buffy.

“Aw, leaving so soon?” Glory called out as the three girls left.

“Guess this will be even easier than I thought.”

Glory smiled and Buffy immediately started throwing the punches.

“You know, this hallway is cramping my style,” Glory said, in in between blows.

She picked Buffy off the ground and threw her into the bedroom.

“Much better.”

Buffy stood up and continued the fight. Xander and Giles stepped in and helped as much as they could. Buffy prayed Willow and Tara hurried with the spell, for she feared she wasn’t going to be much of a distraction after all.

Suddenly, in mid-punch, Glory stumbled forward, clutching her head.

"Damnit!”

She wobbled over to Xander and reached out her hands.

“Hope you said a proper good-bye to your brain,” she told him.

Xander ducked and kicked her in the stomach. She pushed him forward and he crashed against a bookshelf. Buffy ran over and grabbed Glory by the hair.

“You bitch! This is a seven day perm!”

Buffy threw her to the ground, taking advantage of the fact that Glory was getting weaker. As Buffy was about to kick her, she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. In the closet.

“Dawn,” she whispered.

All of a sudden, Buffy’s legs flew up in front of her and she landed onto the ground with a sickening thud. Glory jumped on top of her and started furiously punching her in the face. Buffy struggled and finally kneed her in the stomach. She rose and ran towards the closet, flung open the doors, but Dawn was no longer there.

“Where the hell is my Key?” Glory screamed, now standing.

Buffy searched around the room and spotted her and Giles sneaking down the hall. Unaware of how obvious her realization was, Glory shoved her down from behind, stepped over her and started heading out the door. Buffy grabbed her by the ankle and Glory toppled forward. Glory kicked her in the face with her stilleto heel and Buffy grabbed her nose in pain. Still determined to give Giles more time to get Dawn out, Buffy stood up quickly and grabbed Glory around the waist, throwing her against the wall. She stood up and wrapped her hand around Buffy’s throat, lifting her off the ground. Buffy stuggled helplessly, her oxygen practically cut off.

*This is it,* she thought. *I failed.*

Glory squeezed her neck harder and Buffy could see the room spinning before her eyes. Glory’s words sounded as if they were coming from a million miles away.

“’Night, hun. Sweet dreams.”

As Buffy’s eyes began to close, she suddenly felt Glory loosen her grip and drop her to the ground. It felt as if she were falling forever. But, as soon as she hit, she started gasping for air. She tried to focus her eyes, to see what had made Glory release her.

“Spike,” she said so softly, the word barely left her mouth.

Buffy tried to stand, but stumbled and fell back down. She cursed to herself. Strong, Buffy. Be strong. She attempted again and finally had both feet on the ground. Her vision was still blurry, but she could still make out the black blur before her. What was he doing here? Why on earth would he come back?

Spike punched Glory for the sixth time until she was back against the wall.

“Bloody bitch,” he grumbled. “Touch her again and I’ll --”

Glory had had enough. No more losery weaklings trying to be all big and strong. Just because she was weak, didn’t mean she was gonna let them beat her. There was no way to beat her.

“Sorry, but Billy Idol was so 1982. Guess I’m gonna hafta kill you.”

She picked him off the ground by his duster and threw him as hard as she could across the room. He crashed against her bedpost and fell unconscious.

“Looks like it’s just you and me, sweetie,” she said, returning her attention to Buffy.

Willow and Tara suddenly appeared at the door with some sort of powder in their hands.

“Oh, please. Not you two again. I really don’t have time.”

Glory extended her hands towards the two girls and her fingers lit up.

Buffy looked on wide-eyed and lunged at Glory. Losing her balance, Glory let out an off-target bolt that hit the curtains and set them on fire.

“Look what you did! My interior decorator spent two hours trying to center those just right! You’re gonna pay...”

Glory leaped onto Buffy, screeching and stangling her once again.

“Willow!” she screamed.

Both Willow and Tara ran over to Glory and tossed the powder onto her, chanting something in latin. Then, an invisible force sent Glory flying off of Buffy and crashing against the wall. Buffy rubbed her swollen neck and watched as Glory just brushed off the powder and stood up again. Buffy gave Willow a confused glance.

Meanwhile, the room was becoming submerged in flames, as the fire spread from the curtains and down the wall.

Suddenly, Glory came running towards her. Buffy broke off a piece of the bedpost, the sharp splintered end, facing the god.

“I thought you said this was going that was going to kill her!” Buffy shouted to Willow and Tara.

Right as Glory grabbed Buffy, she slammed the wood into her stomach. Glory stepped back, the post still inside her, as blood gushed out from the wound. She looked up, throughly perplexed, and slowly took it out. She gasped in pain and just stared at her stomach.

“W-What the hell is going on?” She asked. Buffy, also bewildered, looked at a grinning Willow.

“She’s mortal.”

Glory’s eyes widened in shock as she stumbled backwards and slid down the wall, holding her stomach. Buffy watched with a wide-eyed statement as the now mortal god fought for her life.

“See you...soon,” Glory whispered.

Without another word, she closed her eyes and slouched over. She was gone.

But what did she mean by ‘see you soon’?

Suddenly, the ceiling started to cave as blazing embers began falling down on top of them.

Oh.

“Willow, Tara, run!” Buffy shouted, as she ran over to Xander, who was just now waking up.

“Xander, we have to move.”

She helped him up and they staggered towards the door, sheilding their eyes from the smoke and flames. The four friends ran down the hall and out the door. When they reached the grass, they turned around, out of breath, and looked at the burning mansion before them.

Then Buffy remembered something.

“Is that everyone?” Xander asked. “I mean, did Giles and Dawn get out alright?”

“Yeah,” Willow answered. “Anya helped Giles rescue Dawn. They brought her to your house, Buffy.....Buffy?”

The three watched in horror as Buffy started jogging back towards the house.

Spike. She had forgotten about Spike.

She kicked open the door and started running up the stairs, as her friends warnings echoed in her ears. When she reached the flame-inundated room, she immediately started choking on the heavy smoke. Her stinging eyes searched frantically, and she finally spotted him in a heap by the bed. The flames were surrounding him, and if she had been a second later, he would already be dust.

“Spike!” She called out, as the fumes smothered her.

He slowly opened his eyes and tried to stand up. Upon realizing that he was about to turn into a crispy critter, he jumped to his feet and stammered over the fire. Still feeling dazed, he ended up stepping right into it.

“Bloody hell!” He shouted, as flames started taking over his foot.

Buffy ran over to him and fiercely tried to smolder the flames with her hands. She cursed as she scalded herself.

“Shit, shit, shit!” She screamed, waving her hands through the air.

Suddenly, Spike picked her up off the ground and started running with her towards the entrance.

“Put me down! I can walk you know,” she told him, struggling to break free.

“I know that you silly bint.”

As they reached the doorway, the ceiling fell down in flames at their feet. Buffy held tightly around his neck as he jumped backwards to avoid being crushed by the burning wood.

“There’s gotta be another way out,” he yelled, trying to be heard over the crackling sounds.

Buffy jumped out of him arms and proceeded to walk towards window to see if they were low enough to the ground to jump.

“I told you, I can walk.”

Just as she reached the window, a large piece of wood came thundering down on top of her, pinning her to the ground. She struggled to get it off her, as she felt the heat of the flames inching towards her.

This can’t be good. In fact...this was very, very bad.

Change of Heart: Part VIII
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