The Act Of Truth
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Fireman Series
Part 2: The Act of Truth
By: Paradox (paradox166@Hotmail.com)
Date started: 8th September 2001 Finished: Sep 8th 2001
Rating: PG-13
Notes/Spoilers: My own version of the Season 6 premiere with some rumoured Season 6 spoilers too. Hope you’ll like it. Feedback is welcome!
The Hellmouth was still open. They had to close it soon or Sunnydale would be overrun within a day or two. Hell, pretty much the whole world could be covered within a matter of weeks.
While a few years ago the first thing Spike would’ve thought about would be his happy-meals being taken away, he now looked at it differently. The world was a better place without demons. Without Evil.
Hell it would be better without me, Spike thought.
He was parked at the gas station on his new bike refueling. He took out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling on it deep in thought.
The gas station worker approached him.
“Hey you can’t smoke here.” Spike looked at him evilly. The worker backed off.
Spike still hadn’t made contact with the Scoobies after the showdown at the school. It was now 2am, almost an hour had passed. Spike felt he was about to start sobbing. He put his hopes so high, he thought they could really bring Buffy back.
But he now felt like he was back 3 months ago. His healed wounds had been ripped open again, the floodgates would pour open again with grief, loss, sadness and…guilt. Spike had never felt that last one before.
Which reminded him, he should get to Dawn quickly. She would be probably worried about him. And after all, he was her protector, she depended on him.
He grinded the cigarette out on the floor, making sure not to grind it on some leaked fuel, and revved the engine heading to the Magic Shop.
*****
The first thing Buffy thought about was blood. Then fire and lava. And pain. She remembered it then felt it again.
She hugged herself from the cold night air trying to protect herself from the impending torture and pain she was expecting. But nothing happened.
She looked around, trying to gather her surroundings. She gathered she was somewhere in a forest. Trees. Yes, there were trees. And grass. Lots of it, it stretched really far. It looked pretty. So dark and dead.
She felt herself getting cold. Rubbing her self didn’t work. A sudden thought crossed her mind but she shrugged it off. But then she began to worry. She put a hand to her throat, feeling for a pulse.
Nothing.
She couldn’t even tell if she was breathing or not. Her eyes were playing tricks on her. It suddenly looked like it was daylight. Her first instinct was to run for the shade to be safe.
But then it switched back to night time. And she felt safer.
But still confused.
She started running. Her clothes ripped and dirty and getting ripped more as she ran. Her tears cleaned her muddy face.
She ran towards the moon, her silhouette showing in front of the moon. Her eyes glinted in the night. Or maybe it was her tears.
Whatever it was, she was still as beautiful as ever.
*****
Dawn was pacing around the shop. Spike still wasn’t back and she was still worried. Losing Buffy had been terrible. Through the past months she had developed a bond with Spike. She talked to him about everything and anything.
The sudden thought that he might not have made it made her queasy and nauseous. She had to sit down.
“Dawnie, please sit down.” Tara asked her quietly. Dawn froze and did what she asked.
“I can’t believe it.” Xander thought out loud. Anya was taken aback.
“What? You don’t think I can handle running a shop?” There was a hurt look on her face. Xander put a hand on her shoulder.
“No I mean, Giles.” He looked down at the note in front of him. “I can’t believe he actually left. To England!” He shook his head.
“We should’ve seen it coming.” Willow said, tiredly. “I mean, we all grieved for Buffy. I guess Giles couldn’t face seeing her again.” She looked down at the floor, ashamed. “Like re-opening old wounds.” No one replied. She was right and they knew it. Maybe they shouldn’t have attempted to rescue Buffy in the first place. They shouldn’t mess with life and death and they knew it.
“Well guys, I’ve been reading and reading.” Willow tried changing the subject. “I’m not sure what the best way is to close the Hellmouth. I mean we have to do it soon. Or else Sunnydale is going to be open buffet for the demons.”
“Can’t we just use Xander’s crew to seal the hole again. You know, using cement and stuff?” Xander tried hard not to laugh, but he did. That wasn’t a smart thing to do. Anya was being serious and trying to be helpful. “Fine! Figure it out on your own!” Anya shot up from the chair and stormed off to the back room.
Xander bit his lips angry at himself. The pressure was too high. Not just the whole ‘Buffy ritual, Giles leaving’ pressure. It was the whole marriage thing. He still hadn’t told them. He quickly got up and followed Anya.
“Honey,” Tara got Willow’s attention who looked up at her with a smile. “I need to tell you something.” There was a serious look on Tara’s face, which made Willow lose her smile.
“What’s up?” Willow asked concerned. Dawn heard them talking so got back up from her chair and continued pacing in front of the door giving them some privacy.
“I’m not sure I should tell you this. I don’t know what it could mean, what it could do. Some things are better left alone but,” She paused unable to continue. Willow was getting scared.
“What are you talking about?” Tara tried to continue.
“Lately, I’ve been practicing space and time magic. With the cards and stuff.”
“Tara, you know I told you those things mean nothing.”
“What? Looking at the future?” Willow nodded. “I said the same thing about your attempts to bring back Buffy-“
“Yes, and that failed.” Willow filled in for her.
“We don’t know for sure. But, anyway, I saw stuff. About the future. Don’t be mad, but I looked at your future.” Willow looked stunned and looked at Tara disbelievingly.
“What? Why? You still don’t trust me with the magic is that it?” Her voice was getting louder. Tara shook her head sadly wishing she had said nothing.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, but Will I have to tell you-“
“No!” Willow cut her off and got up from the chair. “Don’t tell me anything. It hurts me you still don’t trust me. After all I’ve done, and brought you back. How could you?” She paused a second, looking at Tara who had her hands on her face sobbing quietly.
Willow walked to Tara’s side and covered her hands with hers.
“I’m sorry.” She sighed. “I’m just really…” She sat on the chair next to her. Tara wiped away her last tears and looked at Willow’s determined face.
“Tell me what you saw.”
*****
Dawn wandered around Sunnydale. It was cold. But that was good. That was the only thing keeping her awake. She couldn’t stand being at the shop anymore. Everyone was depressed and she had grown tired of waiting around for Spike.
Pretty soon she found herself near Buffy’s grave.
“Might as well see her.” Dawn said. And continued walking towards her grave. She looked up at the sky. The clouds were thick and gray and looked heavy no matter how cotton-ball-like they looked. To confirm what she was thinking, a drop of rain hit her right between the eyes. “Great” She muttered and decided she better hurry.
*****
“Xander, you better tell them or I will!” Anya wiped a tear away. “It hurts me. I feel like you’re ashamed to tell them.”
“No, no. It’s not like that.” Xander told her. He put an arm around her to comfort her. “I swear to you Anya. I love you.” He looked straight into her eyes. “I will marry you, no apocalypse can hold us back.” He smiled. “I’m pretty sure we already tested that theory.” Anya grinned and they both laughed. Xander was glad he was able to calm her down again. He knew this was a big deal. And he made a promise to himself. He would tell them all today. If it was the last thing he did.
Xander leaned in for a kiss which Anya gratefully received. What started as a soft sweet kiss, turned into full on hot and heavy lip smacking. Anya reached for his pants’ button trying to untie it while Xander reached under her shirt almost reaching her bra.
“Hello!” They were interrupted by the sudden sound of the shop’s bell and a certain Vampire’s British accent. Xander broke off the kiss and they both looked at each other, their cheeks flushed, their breathing heavy. He took her hand and they went out to the main room.
Spike stood at the entrance. Willow and Tara got up from their seats when they saw him. Willow had a strange, distant look on her face when she spoke to him.
“Um, Spike.” She cleared her throat. “Where have you been? Dawn’s been worried sick about you!” Spike bit his lip.
“I ran out of gas. Had to refuel.” He looked around, suddenly alarmed. “Where is the little bit, anyway?” Just then Xander and Anya waltzed in happily from the back.
“Guys we have an announcement to make.” They all ignored them.
“Oh my god. Dawn!?” Willow shouted, looking around.
Spike sighed and immediately went to check the training room and came back.
“She’s not there.” He began to panic. “How bad was she when she was here?” He asked them.
“She was freaking out.” Tara told him.
“That’s probably an understatement.” Willow agreed, catching Tara’s eyes. Xander and Anya were disinterested.
“Look she probably just decided to take a walk.” He cleared his throat, “Anyway, as I was-“
“I’m going to look for her. Will, call the house. And, try to find a way to close the Hellmouth. We have to close it soon.” Spike cut him off and ran to the exit.
“Ok, good idea. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Spike forced a smile and left.
He hopped on to his motorcycle like a wild animal and immediately revved the engine and shot away. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. He gritted his teeth angry and panicked. He usually never let Dawn out of his view for even a minute. He was her sworn protector. He had failed Buffy. No way would he fail Dawn.
The Hellmouth was open and a little girl was out on the street. Spike looked at the sky. Apart from seeing the dark clouds, he saw what looked like an eagle fly by. But this was way bigger than an eagle. From Spike’s old days, he knew exactly what this was.
A Gargoyle.
“Huge, nasty buggers.” Spike muttered under his breath as the wind blew through his hair. He put on his new sunglasses. It was dark enough already, but they were good at keeping the wind out of his eyes.
Spike instinctively headed toward Buffy’s grave.
Maybe, just maybe, their plan had worked…
*****
Buffybot skipped around the graveyard looking for vamps to kill. It was almost 2:30am now. Her schedule determined it was time to report to HQ.
She smiled and turned around 360°. As she was about to walk forward, something, grabbed her from behind and tripped her. She was now flat on her back.
“Ah!” She whimpered trying to find a program to aid her in her dilemma. Her eyes focused on her attacker. “Hey!” She said. “You’re Buffy Summers!”
Buffy froze when she heard that name. There was a dark look on her face as she bent down slowly to the Buffybot. She grinned and brought down her fist straight to Buffybot’s face. It felt good.
“Ow!” Buffybot was able to register surprise. “I’ve been programmed not to hurt you, Buffy Summers. Please stop damaging my electronics!” It didn’t help. Buffy continued to kick her. She took one final step back, and kicked Buffybot’s head like she was kicking a football. That did it, her eyes shut down. Buffy used this opportunity to her advantage. She went down on her knees, opened her mouth real wide and bit down hard on her neck.
Buffy screamed in pain. Then her face registered confusion. Had all her instincts been wrong? She got up slowly.
“Hey!” She heard a voice behind her. She turned around. She saw someone, a small girl. Dessert. “Oh my god!” Dawn’s mouth was open in surprise. Surprise couldn’t begin to describe what she was feeling. She couldn’t move, she forgot to even breathe.
A wicked grin spread across Buffy’s face and she slowly approached Dawn. Dawn felt a shiver run down her spine. And suddenly she felt scared. “Buffy?” Dawn’s voice was very low. She started walking slowly backwards. “Buffy it’s me, Dawn.” It didn’t help, Buffy’s expression didn’t change.
Just then, Dawn heard a loud noise behind her. “Could someone be mowing the lawn at this time of the night?”, she thought. But that wasn’t it at all.
“Dawn!” She turned around. It was Spike. On a motorcycle!
“Spike!” She cried out. She instantly felt relieved. But she continued to back away from Buffy. “It’s Buffy!” She shouted to him as he got closer. “She’s ba-“ She wasn’t able to finish her sentence as Buffy jumped at her, trying to smother her with her hands.
Spike sped up. He saw it, Buffy or whoever Dawn said she was had attacked her. He got closer and with one swift motion, shoved the attacker off of Dawn. He turned right back and approached Dawn. He stopped, got off and helped Dawn up.
“Pigeon, you ok?” He asked her concerned. Dawn nodded, still shaken by the whole ordeal. He quickly carried her to his motorcycle, and he hopped back on it, ready to take off again.
“Wait, Spike.” Dawn said. Spike was confused. “That’s Buffy.” Spike was about to shout at her for saying that. But he couldn’t move his mouth when he saw the truth. Buffy had gotten back up and she looked at both of them almost longingly.
“Buffy?” He shouted. Just as Buffy looked like she was about to reply, a huge creature passed right in front of him and grabbed Buffy with its claws and flew away. It was a Gargoyle. It must have followed him. “Hey!” He screamed at it.
Without a second thought, he sped after them with Dawn safely clung behind him on his bike. He felt adrenaline rush through him. And all he could think was Buffy!
She’s back!
*****
At the Hellmouth, a demonic, hellish creature flew out every minute. The whole area was now covered with Demons from A-Z. Some were unknown, and didn’t even have names. Some stayed close to the Hellmouth, while the others immediately started their carnage.
Suddenly, about 10 creatures came out. They looked human, their eyes closed, a bloody “X” scar on each eye. They wore robes and looked like priests. They carried their books, found a place to sit down and began to chant. They needed a place where life didn’t grow or exist for their ritual to work.
Their master would be coming soon…
*****
“Guys, look at this.” Anya spoke up. “It’s kind of a long shot though.”
They were all sitting at the table in the magic shop browsing through books to help them find a suitable spell or ritual to close the Hellmouth. It was almost 4am and they were all sleepy and tired. They hadn’t slept much the whole day. When Dawn had called Willow at midnight, they had all barely slept 1 hour.
“Yeah, hon, what is it?” Xander asked her, smiling. Anya smiled back.
“The Book of Myths refers to a ritual called The Act of Truth.” Tara’s ears perked up.
“Hey I think I’ve heard of that one.” She tried recalling it.
“If someone performs this ritual, any place of evil will be ‘cleansed or sealed off from the current dimension’.” She continued to read. “I guess it was made to cleanse haunted houses or whatever. Oh and an added bonus it says ‘the intensity of the ritual is powerful, so pure it also causes life.’ It’s actually this life force that closes the Hellmouth. The counter-balance of Evil I guess.”
Everyone looked at her, taken aback. Anya looked at them all confused. “What? It was just a suggestion!” She sighed and continued to search as did the others. Tara though paused and thought a bit about it. In all her research, no one had ever been successful at it. The act would need to be so powerful, so pure of good and truth to actually work. Willow saw her deep in thought.
“What is it?”
Tara smiled at her.
“Something I just saw in the future made sense.” She grinned secretively at Willow. “Everything’s going to be fine.” She added.
Willow wasn’t too sure. She sighed and went back to the books.
*****
They had been following the Gargoyle for the past 10 minutes. It was too high in the sky for them to attempt to throw anything at it. If Willow was here she could probably shoot a fireball at it or something.
“Spike, what’s wrong with her?” Dawn asked him confused. Spike sped up even more. He shrugged his shoulders.
“Dawn, she’s been dead a long time.” He paused. “Death does strange things to people.” Spike recognized the road they were on. To confirm this, he saw it up ahead; Glory’s Tower.
It hadn’t been torn down by the town council since they found it useful as a telecommunications relay. Bloody, bureaucratic pillocks. That place should’ve been torn down. It brought bad memories back.
“We have to stop it, Spike.” Dawn told him. He agreed. Pretty soon they’d run out of road. Spike had an idea.
He sped up so he was now going faster than the Gargoyle. They reached Glory’s tower and he quickly got off.
“Stay here.” He ordered Dawn, and ran all the way to the top.
He felt nostalgic as he did this, expecting to see some minions blocking his way.
Spike was now at the top. As he expected, the Gargoyle was heading straight for him. He took out his stake and hid in the corner. As the Gargoyle came swooshing by, he jumped out and slammed the stake right into the creature’s head. Green blood oozed out as it came crash landing at the platform Spike was on.
Oh no! The creature was about to careen off the edge-with Buffy! He ran after it as it rolled uncontrollably and dangerously to the edge with Buffy absorbing every bump and bruise.
He wasn’t going to make it. They were at the end of the diving board and he was only half way across.
Spike cursed and jumped.
“Buffy!” He screamed as she toppled off the edge. He shot out his arm in mid-air. If he had been one millimeter short he would’ve missed. But he made it.
He grabbed Buffy’s hand.
“Ahhh!” He screamed as the force of carrying two people was too much. He was flat on his stomach, at the edge of the board, holding Buffy’s hand. The Gargoyle was still clinging to Buffy’s legs, dangling in mid-air. It roared loudly, half-dead.
Spike’s arm was starting to shake and convulse. He couldn’t keep this up forever.
“Let me go.” Spike heard those words as if they came from far away. He opened his eyes and saw Buffy looking straight back at him, desperately. “Please. I don’t want to live.” She said simply, sadly.
Spike almost started crying right there. No way though. No way would he lose her again after just getting her back.
“I can’t let you.” He replied, his voice cracking up.
The Gargoyle roared again. Spike felt new strength coursing through him. He pulled her up again, screaming in agony. As he pulled, he attempted to sit up on the board so he could use his feet to help him. The instant he was able to get his first foot on the platform, he used it to push even further.
He heard his bone pop out of its socket in his right shoulder. It didn’t matter, he continued to pull and use his left hand as well now. He shut the pain out as he did.
She was half way up, when the Gargoyle delivered its death wish. It dug its claws deeper into Buffy’s legs and flexed its back forward sinking its long canine teeth into Buffy’s back. Buffy screamed loudly, painfully, before the Gargoyle finally let go. It finally plummeted to the ground-dead.
Spike was confused at her scream, thinking he was just being too forceful on her. He ignored it and continued pulling not realizing the weight was much lighter now. He fell backwards on his back, with Buffy landing straight on top of him, blood oozing out from her back on to his stomach.
The instant Spike saw her blood, he panicked.
“My god.” He said, feeling a sudden pain in his stomach. That pain was familiar to him now.
Failure.
He turned her sideways, inspecting the wound. It was huge. The Gargoyle had chomped off a huge part of flesh near her left kidney. He began to sob uncontrollably.
“Buffy. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.” He whispered to her. Her face curled up in pain. She opened her eyes and looked intently at Spike as if looking at him for the very first time.
“Spike.” That was all she said before her eyes closed for the last time and Spike felt the life leave her body. She lay limp in his arms.
The heavens then opened up and it began to rain. The drops, like tears, flooded open. The sky mourned with Spike at his loss.
“No.” A lump formed in his throat. “Buffy?” He whispered to her. “Wake up, please, oh God please wake up.” He buried his head in her neck and continued to sob.
Just then, Dawn had managed to climb to the top. The horror that she saw caused her to stumble where she stood. She had to grab the railing next to her so she didn’t fall flat on her face. Instead she went down on her knees and cried.
It was happening all over again, she thought. And fainted.
Spike lifted his head back up to look at Buffy’s face. So innocent, so beautiful, so wet. He memorised every curve, every angle and touched her cold cheek as if it was the last time he would ever be able to do that.
“I love you.” He choked out and brought his lips to hers, resting them on hers. She felt so soft, so tender as his kiss brushed her lips. He closed his eyes and let the tears roll down, giving her a final goodbye.
Just then, something happened. His ears intercepted the sound of a thumping noise. It grew louder and faster. Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
And just then she inhaled a deep breath, parting open her lips like a kitten yawning.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
Her eyes fluttered open like a butterfly.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
Her eyes searched her surroundings until finally she found Spike’s familiar eyes. She continued to stare at him, speechless. The intensity between them seared to boiling point. Their bodies heating up.
“Thank you.” Buffy managed to say. Spike shook his head, putting away his disbelief.
“No need for that, love.” He lowered his hand feeling her wound. He found it all but closed and healed.
Buffy began breathing hard. This man, she recognized him. She touched his face, caressing his cheek with the back of her hand. She smiled, lowered her hand and closed her eyes trying to rest. Spike instantly shook her shoulders and she opened her eyes again slightly annoyed.
“Hey, don’t do that.” He scolded her. “You scared me.” She grinned. He couldn’t help but smile back at her.
“Take me home?” He nodded and helped her stand up, slowly, making sure she didn’t have any more open wounds.
They walked over to Dawn who was lying on her side, unconscious. Buffy and Spike both bent down and tried waking her up.
The instant Dawn saw her sister, she lunged at her, hugging her, almost squeezing the life out of her. Dawn cried happy tears.
“Buffy!” She yelped happily and continued to hug her.
“Dawnie.” Buffy said, hugging her tighter. Dawn pulled back after a while and looked at Spike.
“Can we go home now?” Dawn asked. Buffy looked at him, he looked right back getting lost all over again in her eyes.
“Let’s go.” He replied.
Just then, the rain stopped. All three of them stared at the end of the board where Buffy had fatally jumped 3 months ago. It was so vivid. So real.
So terrible.
And there in the far horizon, the sun peeked out a little, signifying the break of dawn.