Sorry this took so long, computor up and died on me and i haven't replaced it yet (with uni starting funds are a little tight) . Any way i lost all my work exept this as i had emailed it to my lovely beta
persephone_20 , but i have the originals on paper so never fear! (it just will take a while to re-type it all.)
This is in responce to a banner fic at
indigo_crypt that
tamakin84posted
Title : Watching Over Her / Part 2
Rating: NC17 over all but not this snippet
Summary: After the events of Chosen spike is accidentally sucked into a hell dimension along with all the uber-vamps he put there. When he is finally freed he discovers that the PTB have one more task for him before he can finally rest. He is to look after the slayer and her child, ensuring the fate of earth and all dimensions attached to it. But there is a catch, Buffy can never know that he is alive, and Spike is condemned to watch her and protect her from afar once more.
Disclaimer: Joss is the ruler of the Buffy universe, blar blar blar…
Previous Parts Can be Found ....
HERE! He couldn't remember waking. Christ it felt like he'd been here forever and a bleeding day. He mocked himself endlessly in his mind as the hours dragged on. Seemed that not all self-sacrificing Scoobies went to heaven then.
His self mocking smirk disappeared upon the feel of the lash, tearing into his already torn and bruised flesh. It fell again, and again, and from then on there was nothing but pain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A fragile pale body lay naked on the black marble floor. It shook and shivered in turns; its groans and insane ramblings the only sounds breaking the otherworldly silence.
Two figures dressed in long flowing robes looked, each contemplating how to approach the figure that was in obvious pain. The pain worried them, as all his flesh had been healed, yet the pain seemed to remain.
At a distance, and in silence, they waited.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When he finally awoke, the first thing Spike noticed was that he was healed. He stared at his hands in shock and fascination. Hands that were his were soft and smooth, not charred and bloody. Letting loose an insane laugh, Spike started rocking back and forth, shaking his head wildly at this new trick, sent to break him. The whole time his eyes remained focused on his hands, and his laughter rose.
“Attention!" a voice bellowed.
Spikes head jerked up at the sound, and tilted, trying to interpret what the strange new sound was.
“Enough of that. We have work to do. You have been gone too long as it is." The man peered down at the rocking man below him. With a swirl of his blue robe, he walked on, expecting his unexpected charge to follow.
When it became apparent that the vampire had not actually followed, the man spun around, about the vent his frustration, when a cool hand came down on his shoulder.
“Enough, Ingus," the lady in red robes spoke calmly. "He is too broken to understand.” She advanced, and gazed down at the man at her feet in concern.
Ingus’s expression softened a fraction. “I forgot how fragile these creatures are," he said. His brow creased in puzzlement as he contemplated how best to approach the vampire. His original plan of trying to forget the ‘hell bungle’ and move on seemed to have failed. He had never been one for patience and tact.
While the man was watching him, the vampire cowered away from him, and moved toward the woman who had shown him kindness. He began to stroke the draped garment on her form. Shuffling closer he buried his head in the soft folds, clamping his arms around her legs with what strength he had.
Nadya smiled down at him, resting a hand against the vampire's head, then brought her gaze back to Ingus. “This will take time. He has been though much.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was months before he allowed anyone but Nadya near him. Longer still before he allowed anyone else to touch him. A year passed, and he became able to understand the people around him when they spoke to him again. Still, he never responded in anything other than crude sounds of compliance. His mind had been shattered by his experiences; Spike had shut down.
“It’s taking too long!” Ingus appeared at Nadya’s side as she slowly stroked Spikes pale brown hair, a motion that had become her comfortable habit.
“This was never meant to happen, Ingus. He should have been returned to Earth the moment the Firsts army was sent into Hell. Goddess above, he was forced to live while every one of those creatures got there revenge on him for sending them there!” Nadya stared down at the body in her arms tears softening her face further, as they pooled in her eyes. “How could we have let this happen? We are the Keepers of the Gates and we lost him” For the first time in decades, she could feel emotion. This vampire made her feel, and now she wept for her failure to protect him
“We couldn’t have known,” Ingus' voice spoke softly, “Never has a vampire tried to save the world. It was unheard of till this one. There may have been stories of another such vampire, but they were never founded. You know how it works. Vampire comes through those gates and it gets sent straight to hell. Spike came though with thousands of his kind and we …missed him.”
It was an odd statement to make, for two such as these, but it was one they had shared many times. Yet no matter how many times they justified their actions, the guilt for loosing their hero never abated. The truth was, they had lost him, had waited like idiots for him to appear in heaven, and he had never shown up. He had been redeemed, and all his sins washed clean. He should never have been anywhere near hell, and yet that was where he had been.
Now they stared at the vampire cradled between them. He was not finished yet. There was one more task for him to complete for the Powers That Be.
“We have to show him.” They stared quietly at each other, and nodded the decision justly made.
Spike quivered between them.
TBC...