My late Back Up Fic for the Tara Ficathon...
Okay another one out of the way... This one was a little harder to write so I decided to write it a bit differently from how I usually write. Anyhow hope you like it.
Title: Deception’s End
Author: Sweetness (ficathon@yahoo.com)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Spike/Tara
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Joss Whedon and Co.
Distribution: My site (http://fanfiction.angel-buffy.com), if you already have permission, just let me know. Otherwise, ask.
Notes: Written for as a back up fic for the Tara Ficathon. Set during an alternate Season Six BTVS, approximately before “Tabula Rasa” everything just before that happens but after that it changes. Challenge at the end.
Feedback: Yes please :)
If someone had told Spike a few months ago that he would be over Buffy Summers, the current vampire Slayer, he would have laughed at them. He had thought that there was no way that he could ever be over the Slayer, his life depended on her, or so he thought. However, a few months ago everything had changed. Tara and Willow had done a spell and it hadn’t worked out as they intended. Instead of helping them fight the current demonic cause of mischief in Sunnydale, the spell had deactivated the Monks’ spell that had caused them all to love and protect Dawn. It had been drastic and life altering event, and in those first few hours after the spell, everything had changed. It was like they had all woken up from a deep slumber. They still loved Dawn, she had all come to mean so much to them all. But they no longer had the false memories of the time before she had come into their lives. They could remember a time when she had not exsisted, and alternatively those who had never met her no longer had the memories of her, for example Angel and Faith had no idea who Dawn was. When Angel had come into town to pick up some arcane book that his team in L.A. needed and he had seen Dawn he was shocked to find out that she was Buffy’s sister. He had first assumed that they had meant half-sister, but it had taken them several hours to explain to the brooding vampire who she was. It had reminded Spike of the time when he had to tell the Scoobies about how Ben and Glory were the same person. However, it was with the Scoobies that it had caused the real devastation for. None of them would be the same again. At first Buffy had been angry at Willow and Tara, she had despised them for the fact that they had taken away her “memories,” she didn’t care if they were false, they had given her some sense of meaning. And now they were gone. She had dragged Spike out to go slaying with her, or at least that’s what she told her friends. However, she had other plans, and it was when she was beating him up and taking his clothes off that he realized that he didn’t love her. He didn’t even like having sex with her. When he tried to stop her, Buffy had been furious, but eventually she had listened. He held her as she cried out her frustration and when she was done, he took her back to the store. There they found the rest of the gang pretty much in the same state.
What had stunned them all was the fact that most of their actions in the last two years had been driven by the spell. It wasn’t until the next day that they found out how bad it was. Giles arrived back in town, but he was accompanied with another witch. He told them how he had been visiting a coven in England, when he had suddenly lost the memories of Dawn. The witch he brought with him, Sabrina, was able to help him through it. For that Spike was grateful, for they were all in a mess, especially Dawn. She couldn’t understand what they were all going through, and even if she did, she was going through worse. All of her false memories had been wiped too. She no longer could remember anything from before the day she had been created. Sabrina was able to tell them that for whatever reason, the spell that Willow and Tara had been cast had backfired but because they were so powerful, it had undone the spell the Monks had used. Only powerful magic could undo powerful magic. However, they couldn’t risk casting any other spells, because it wasn’t by chance that their spell had failed. That was when Angel walked into the store, apparently his friend, Lorne, had a friend who was also a seer like Cordelia. This other seer wasn’t as powerful as Cordelia, but she could have visions on command. And for some reason, Angel had had a dire feeling about things in Sunnydale so he had gone to Lorne’s contact, who had told him that someone was sabotaging things for his friends in Sunnydale. To the point where magic which was once their ally would become their enemy. They had lost time trying to explain to Angel what had happened, but that was how they found out about how the spell had affected others.
Once they had finally gotten it through to Angel what had happened, they started to work on how to figure out who and what was sabotaging Buffy and her friends. They split up into pairs, strangely enough they no longer formed the pairs that they had in the past. Xander and Willow paired up, while Spike and Tara made another pair, Giles and Anya paired up, and Angel and Buffy paired up. Sabrina stayed behind with Dawn to comfort the girl, while the others went out to find out what they could. It was during this search, that Spike started to realize that he had feelings for the blonde witch beside him. He didn’t know how he had been blind to her beauty for so long, or how he could have not seen her since she outshone Buffy. But he figured it must have been the spell. They didn’t really talk, as they were both lost in their own thoughts. When they returned to the store, they were empty handed like everyone else was except Willow and Xander. The two had found out that some former high school friends were behind it all. They even had one: Jonathon. Spike felt sorry for the kid, it wasn’t every day that someone had two master vampires, a Slayer, three witches, a former vengeance demon, a former Watcher, and a construction worker threaten them. Jonathon broke eventually and he told them everything, including the device that Warren had activated to cause Willow’s spells to backfire. Once they had that knowledge, Sabrina and Giles were able to perform a ritual to deactivate the device, and Buffy, Angel and Spike took care of Warren and Andrew. Warren and Andrew were smart enough to know when they were bested, could be that while they were being threatened with their lives for what they had done, Willow and Dawn had hacked into their computers and sent them a nasty virus which virtually destroyed all of their plans They two left town and were never seen again. Jonathon decided he needed a bit of redemption and headed to L.A. with Angel to find out about fighting the good fight.
That night they all faced a terrible decision, Sabrina could restore their memories but only if they all agreed to have the false memories in place. Surprisingly enough it was Tara who refused. The rest, even Spike, had all agreed to make it better for Dawn, but the blonde witch couldn’t go along with it. To that day, Spike could remember the words that were uttered that night with clarity.
“Why not?” Dawn was crying as she asked the blonde witch.
”Because I can’t go back to living a lie.”
”You don’t care about me.”
”Dawnie, it’s not that. I love you and you mean a lot to me. But I can’t go back to living a lie.”
”What lie?” Buffy asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“The lie that I love someone, when I know I should be with someone else.”
”What?” Willow asked.
“You know that we don’t belong together, Willow.” Tara said quietly.
“Yes you do, you both do. Just like Xander and Anya belong together.” Dawn said.
“No, Dawnie, none of that’s true. If it is, then it means that your sister belongs with Spike.”
”What?” Everyone turned to face Buffy.
“Tara… I trusted you.”
”Yes, and I am asking you all to trust me and trust your feelings.” Tara said.
“What do you mean?” Dawn asked.
“But if we trust you, things will be different.” Anya said.
”Do you think things will be better or worse knowing how you feel Anya?”
“I don’t know. But there’s Dawn to think of, we can’t be selfish.”
“Perhaps there is a way to help Dawn, without returning the false memories.” Giles suggested.
“But I want to remember them.” Buffy said quietly as she put her arms around Dawn.
“You won’t forget them, they are a part of you now.” Sabrina said quietly.
Eventually with research, another way of healing Dawn was found. It was also a way to make sure that she would always remain in the physical form. Once again, it came down to her being the Key and her blood being mystical. But once the spell was completed, there was no need for the false memories to be planted again. And it took them all about a month to realize what was going on. By that time Sabrina had returned to England, but Giles had stayed behind. They were in the store again when it all came out. Dawn was quietly studying when she asked Tara what she had meant about not wanting to live a lie. She had sighed quietly, but she still had answered her question.
“I love Willow very much, and without her, or any of you, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. But Willow’s not my soul mate, she’s my best friend but I don’t love her like I had before the spell backfired.”
”Oh. Does she know?”
“Yes, I know.” Willow said.
“Willow, I ..” Dawn started.
“Don’t worry. Tara’s right.”
Willow went on to explain how the original spell had formed certain feelings amongst them all. Some feelings were real, but others were feelings that they would have outgrown. But some were completely manufactured, when she said that she looked over at Spike. And that was when Spike realized that he had never loved the Slayer, sure he had respected her but there had never been love there. Perhaps lust but not love. And at that same moment, he realized that it had been someone else that he had been substituting Buffy for. Just like Willow had been substituting Tara for someone else. That night, Spike and Tara left the store together and he walked her home. She invited him in her apartment. And he had made the usual comments about how she shouldn’t trust him because he was a soulless vampire and that all that prevented him from ripping her heart out was a tiny bit of plastic and metal. Tara had laughed at him and told him not to be silly.
When Spike had asked her what she meant, she didn’t answer him, instead she pulled him into a kiss. A kiss that was more powerful than anything he had ever shared with Buffy, or even Drusilla. She told him that she had been waiting for such a long time to do that, but she had been afraid and then the Monks had come into town and messed with her mind. For some reason, the Monks had known that Willow would need Tara to be her rock and her purpose for fighting Glory if the goddess ever found out about the Key. So the spell manipulated them into a relationship, when all Tara had wanted to be was close to Spike. And Spike admitted that she had fascinated him because she was a creature of such purity. And that night started the rest of his life with the one person that he truly belonged with. He admitted that he loved her in a way that he had never loved anyone else, and that there could be no one else for him. He figured that the spell had also caused him to desire and love Buffy, after all having a master vampire on her side had definitely helped in the fight against Glory. And while they all healed a little slower than Tara and Spike, the others eventually recovered and moved on from the false past, present and future that had been created for them by the Monks.
** END **
Challenge:
Written for a non-lj user.
Pairing (one or more of the people above)(or specify no pairing): Tara/Spike
Up to two requests (e.g. tone, setting, etc.): loving relationship. hehe sex is nice too
Up to two restrictions (e.g. no character death): no character death, no darkfic
Final Author’s Note: I decided to write about how Tara & Spike go together. It was a lot easier for me.