If I Knew Then... Ch. 5
Title: If I Knew Then...
Author: Shade
Pairing: S/X
Rating: PG to NC17
Disclaimer: All assorted characters belong to Mutant Enemy and Joss which is fine, because I suspect Buffy's high maintenance anyway.
Summary: AU-The African demon in Grave grants Spike's wish in a way he never planned. Flung back in time, he has to relive the previous three years with all the knowledge of what's to come.
A/N: Originally beated by the lovely blinding_sight. Certain bits of dialogue are taken from the following BtVS episodes:
4:11 Doomed
Chapter 5: Doomed
"Bloody apocalyptic earthquakes. Now my chair's all wet," Spike grumbles pulling the orange barcalounger out from under a leak.
Xander hands him a pan to catch the water. "The quake just knocked a couple of pipes loose. The last time we had an earthquake, Buffy died. Should I be worried?"
"One can only hope."
"Spike," Xander warns. "There is a wrench hanging up over there by the workbench. Try tightening the coupling."
He sighs remembering the argument from last time. Spike is just too tired to bother. "All right, but if I fall and break my head...."
"It won't kill you so quit bitching. Here, I'll steady you. Just hurry up."
Xander hands him the wrench and stands there waiting. Spike isn't sure why the boy doesn't just do it himself. Maybe he's just amused by a vampire fixing things. With a sigh, Spike climbs up on the chair and starts tightening. He doesn’t even realize that he's leaning over a bit too far until he feels a big, warm hand plastered on his stomach.
"Vamp reflexes don't necessarily mean vamp balance, huh?"
Spike glances down at the dark eyes looking up at him and grunts, "You want to do this, mate?"
A couple of more twists and the leak drips off into nothing. Spike drops his arms and looks back down at the boy. Xander is staring up at the pipe and it takes two throat clearings before he realizes that his hand is still on Spike's stomach. He jerks the hand away as if it was on fire, which only causes Spike to smirk.
"There now. Any more jobs you need done around here? I could get my bloody tool belt, but we'd have to wait for the cheesy porno music to start."
He grins at the flustered look on Xander's face, but the boy quickly recovers with, "Don't flatter yourself, Fangless."
"What am I supposed to do while you're gone? I'm bored. At least Giles had books to look at." Spike complains, hopping down and tossing the wrench onto workbench too hard.
Xander grabs his keys and heads for the door. "So clean, do laundry."
"I'm not your sodding mum!" he yells to the retreating back. He looks around the room with another sigh.
***
A noise jerks him awake and he looks over to see a pizza box lying on the bed beside him. Xander stands over him with his arms crossed. Spike glances at the alarm clock on the side table. He's only been asleep for a couple of hours.
"You're in my bed!"
"My chair is still wet. When will you people realize that vampires sleep during the day?" he asks and rolls over to scratch his chest.
"Oh god, please tell me you have something on under that blanket."
Spike kicks his leg out to show the gray sweats he's wearing. He grabs the pizza box and starts rooting around inside. Xander sits on the edge of the bed and plucks at the pants leg.
"You're in my bed AND wearing my clothes?"
"My stuff is in the dryer. I'm hoping it doesn't shrink this time. Oh, and I cleaned and did your nasty laundry. You're welcome, you wanker."
Xander looks surprised and glances around the room for the first time. He looks at Spike, looks at the room, and then looks at Spike again. His mouth is moving but fortunately there's no sound coming out. Spike rolls his eyes and flips two fingers at the boy.
"When I told you to clean I didn't expect you to actually do it!"
"It's not like I had anything else to do. Plus, I'm a Master Vampire. I refuse to live in filth."
"You lived in that musty old factory."
"Shut up."
Xander reaches across him and snags a piece of pizza. "I called Giles from work. He's doing research on those demons that are going to try and open the Hellmouth or whatever you told him. He says the earthquake was probably a good sign. We have to head over there in a little while."
"Right, so we round up the posse and kick some demon ass," he says with glee. He hasn't gotten much action since Thanksgiving. The Scoobies weren't comfortable enough yet to let him patrol.
"Yeah, maybe you should get dressed first."
A change of clothes later and they head to the Watcher's. As they come in the door, Willow is babbling with Buffy standing over her protectively. Xander rushes over to the redhead.
"Will, what's wrong?"
"Oh, Xander it was awful. There was this dead guy all carved up and...and Percy called me a nerd!"
Spike tries not to snicker. Xander shoots a confused look at Buffy who just shakes her head. Willow misses all the byplay and keeps talking.
"It just made me feel like I was right back in high school."
Spike watches Xander comfort the girl by getting all indignant. "Stupid jock. If it wasn't for you he still would be."
"If I could, love, I'd eat him for you," Spike says flopping down on the stairs.
"Oh, thanks, Spike... I think. I mean, I know the... Percy thing isn’t really important, it’s the... dead guy on the bed."
Buffy looks to Giles. "Willow said that some symbol was carved into the guy and his blood had been drained. I recognize it I think."
Willow unfolds a napkin and shows it to the others. Spike hops up to take a look. They pass the piece around and the boy makes a rather lame joke, which he completely ignores.
Buffy says, "I’m telling you I’ve seen this somewhere before, I just can’t remember where! I mean... It’s like...”
“It’s the end of the world,” Giles finishes.
"Again?" the three kids say in unison.
"Told you so," Spike grumbles. They all glance at him. "What?"
"From the description Spike gave me several days ago and that symbol I'm pretty sure we're dealing with Vahrall demons. They doing a ceremony called the 'sacrifice of three.' They need the blood of a man--which they have--the bones of a child, and the Word of Valios."
"Bones," Buffy murmurs. "I think I know where I've seen that symbol before."
"Good. Take Spike and try to stop them."
"Do I have to?" she whines at the same time as he says, "Nothing doing, Watcher."
"We're wasting time."
"No, Giles," he says, "I'm staying here with you. Let Buffy take care of the bones."
"Spike, this is no time to..."
"No, you git. You have the Word of Valios. They're going to come here."
Willow stands up from her chair. "What?"
"The first go around, Buffy let the demon get away," Spike says ignoring the displeased 'Hey!' from the Slayer. "That's when you thought there was only one of them, not three. You didn't know what the Word of Valios was. You sent Willow and Xander to look in the museum. I went with them. When we got back here after finding nothing the demons had already come, knocked you 'round, and taken the thing."
"So it's an object. Show me what it looks like," Giles says sliding over a pad of paper.
He doodles a rough picture of the talisman, and the Watcher hurries away and starts going through his things looking for it. Buffy starts tapping her foot impatiently.
"So what's the plan?"
"Hmm?" Giles asks distractedly as he pulls out a jewelry box and paws through it.
"Giles! Plan!"
"Oh! Um, you should go try to stop the demon from getting the bones. Spike and the others can stay here with me to guard the Word until you get back."
"I don't trust you with him."
Spike growls, "Like I want the world to end? Go do your duty, Slayer. They'll be as safe as houses."
He watches her flounce off in a huff. When she grabs a crossbow by the door, he unconsciously steps behind the witch just in case she gets any ideas. Instead, the door is flung open and Buffy disappears out into the night. He sighs and tries not to think about when he used to have her back, always watching over her. Not that she needed it. Watching her fight used to be one of his greatest thrills. Spike shakes his head with a regretful smile. A hand on his arm makes him look up. Willow is giving him her worried look. He tries to think if he's ever seen her turn that look in his direction before.
"Are you okay, Spike?"
"Yeah, ducks. Just remembering is all. You know if it wasn't for you and Xander, I would have dusted myself on this night."
"What?" the boy asks joining them.
"The first time around. Dru had left me. Didn't know I could fight demons at the time thought I was completely defenseless. I had to live with, Harris."
"Hey! Remember who pays for the plasma around here, pal."
"Anyway, it was my lowest point. I was in the middle of ending it all when you two walked in and stopped me. Then when we were fighting the Vahralls I realized I could hurt demons. Cheered me up a bit."
"Aw, that's sweet," Willow says and pats his arm reassuringly then realizes what she's doing. Her face twists up. "In a violent, scary sort of way."
Xander munches on a scone and says, "And that's different from every other night of our lives how exactly?"
Willow gives a little 'true' nod. Spike shakes his head at them. Hellmouth kids definitely were a different breed. Half an hour later, Buffy comes back in with no bones. Spike gives her his smarmiest grin.
"Stupid demons! Riley even saw it get away. His team's on alert too."
Giles looks up from his reading with surprise. "So he is one of the commandos like Spike said?"
"Oh, um yeah. Did I not mention that? I thought I'd mentioned that."
"No, you most certainly didn't."
"Oops. Well, he helped me out fighting off the Gentlemen! I don't think he's all bad like Spike says. I mean, anyone that puts the whammy on him can't be all bad, right?"
"You just keep thinking that Buffy, and when you become a threat and they try to kill you and come after your mates here, I'll try not to say I told you so," he says trying to hold back his rage.
"Shut up, Spike. You're just pissed because they chipped you like a cookie!"
"Enough!" Giles yells loudly while Willow mouths 'chip you like a cookie?' at Xander who looks just as confused.
"Either way it's good that Buffy is friends with this Riley. We'll get more information that way. Right now we have a more pressing threat."
"Right, so we just sit around and wait for them to come? Have you noticed we've been doing that a lot lately?" Xander asks in a worried voice.
"He's right," Buffy quickly agrees and stalks toward Spike with a stake. "Maybe that's all apart of your plan, huh Spikey?"
He leans back with arms open. "Go on then. Stake me. See how far you get fighting those three uglies without my help. Let the world go to hell including your friends and Joyce and Dawn."
Buffy pauses and asks, "Who's Dawn?"
He realizes they're all staring at him. How the hell does he explain Dawn without them thinking he's cracked? Fortunately, the Vahralls take that moment to kick in the door.
"Good timing, boys!" Spike says with a snarl and barrels into the first Vahrall knocking him and his buddy back outside. He hears Xander and Willow screaming and realizes that the third one had been sneaky enough to come in the back door. Buffy brushes past him and starts in on the second one.
They fight side-by-side, spirit and strength. She isn't doing her usual quips, and he knows her mind is on the fight inside the house. She's trying to dispatch her enemy quickly so that she can help the others.
"Go! I'll hold these two off." Buffy's eyes flash at him and he yells again. "Go!"
She pulls back and races inside. Spike backs up and takes a defensive position by the door, wishing he'd grabbed a weapon in his haste. Almost by magic, and who can really tell in Sunnydale, he hears Xander yell his name and a double bladed axe skids out the door between his legs.
Spike grabs it up and starts swinging with a roar. It does nicely keeping the two demons back. One gets a little too bold and ends up with a big gash in his arm for the trouble. Suddenly, just as quickly as they appeared, the Vahralls turn and run. Before he can fully mock them, he hears a thump and Buffy yelling behind him. Spike spins around and runs inside. The Slayer is sprawled out on the floor with her Watcher on top of her looking a bit worse for wear. Xander runs in from the back with a frightened look on his face. Spike realizes what's missing.
"Where's Willow?"
Xander turns to look at him. "He took her."
"The Word?" he asks helping Giles to his feet. The older man opens his hand where the talisman still lies.
"Why do they want Willow?" Buffy asks also getting up.
"It's obvious," the Watcher answers. "We have something they want, and now they have something we want."
"They really think we're going to just hand over the key to the apocalypse?" she asks.
"They're willingly throwing themselves into the Hellmouth, pet. Nobody said they were smart."
Xander says determinedly, "We have to get Willow back."
"Don't worry," Spike replies holding the axe up with a nod to the boy. "We know where they're going."
Spike takes the lead as they walk to the old burnt out high school. He's not straggling behind feeling sorry for himself like the first time, and it feels good. He knows that a change is slowly happening. For once the Scoobies are looking to him. It reminds him of the summer... the summer Buffy had died. That was the summer that he had become part of the team more or less. Of course, once they had gotten their precious Slayer back he was tossed out with the garbage, not even given a second glance. Spike wonders if part of that feeling had bled into his relationship with Buffy. It would explain the ending perhaps, but no, that was all him and Buffy's doing.
He watches her move past him as soon as they step into the school. The boy brushes up against his shoulder and Spike looks at him.
"Buffy's going to go after Willow. She feels bad because she couldn’t stop that thing from taking her."
"Yeah."
"So I guess the apocalypse stopping is up to you and me."
"As long as we keep the Word in my pocket where it is, we're fine." He pauses and looks closer. "You look worried."
"I love Will. I don't want her getting hurt, but..."
"Right now keeping the world from going to hell is more important," Spike finishes for him.
Xander gives a small "yeah" and stares at his shoes. Spike ignores the urge to clasp the boy on the shoulder.
"I hate this," Xander whispers and goes after Buffy.
The demons are down near the hole, much like they were before. This time, though, one of them is holding Willow dangerously close to the edge. He waves Buffy around to the other side before putting his fingers to his lips and giving a loud whistle. Three sets of jet black eyes and one set of scared hazel ones turn to him. Spike pulls out the Word of Valios and waves it around a bit.
"So which of you tossers has the guts to come take this from me?"
The Vahrall holding Willow tightens his grip on the girl causing her to yelp. The other two move towards him menacingly. He tries to keep the smile off his face. It couldn't have worked better if he told them what to do. As soon as the two are clear, Buffy jumps from the side and goes for Willow and the third. The redhead is tossed onto her hands and knees. Buffy takes out her rage on the third demon with a yell. The other two turn at the noise leaving their backs exposed. Spike goes after one, while the boy comes out from behind a pillar swinging his axe at the other. The rest is rather anticlimactic. Spike breaks the neck of his demon and then helps Xander dispatch the second. Only Buffy is left fighting. She keeps punching and kicking furiously. Finally, Spike's had enough for the evening and pulls the Slayer away to break the last one's neck himself.
"I wasn't done!" she yells.
"Look after, Red," he says quietly and picks up the blood and bones.
The blood he slips into a duster pocket quickly. The bones he slings over his shoulder. When he turns, he sees Willow still on the floor clutched to a kneeling Xander. Buffy joins them and crouches down to run her hand over the fall of red hair. Spike pulls the talisman back out of his pocket and looks at it a bit. With a shrug, he tosses it down the hole. The Hellmouth gives a slight rumble causing the others to look at him.
"Won't have to worry about that again. Let's get out of here." He bends down and picks up Xander's discarded axe. The others shuffle out ahead of him. They're not fifty feet down the hall before they bump into Riley in his uniform.
There are some accusations and some bad lying on cornfed's part. Spike just brushes past them all, not wanting to even deal with the commando. He waits outside not sure if he should just go or what. It only takes a few moments before Xander comes out. There's a big smudge of dirt across his cheek, and Spike smirks but doesn't mention it.
"Let's go home," the boy says with a sigh.
Spike knows he's still thinking about having to make the choice between Willow and the world. It's weighing heavily across the lad's shoulders. Spike decides not to give the boy any grief tonight. "Right."
Author: Shade
Pairing: S/X
Rating: PG to NC17
Disclaimer: All assorted characters belong to Mutant Enemy and Joss which is fine, because I suspect Buffy's high maintenance anyway.
Summary: AU-The African demon in Grave grants Spike's wish in a way he never planned. Flung back in time, he has to relive the previous three years with all the knowledge of what's to come.
A/N: Originally beated by the lovely blinding_sight. Certain bits of dialogue are taken from the following BtVS episodes:
4:11 Doomed
Chapter 5: Doomed
"Bloody apocalyptic earthquakes. Now my chair's all wet," Spike grumbles pulling the orange barcalounger out from under a leak.
Xander hands him a pan to catch the water. "The quake just knocked a couple of pipes loose. The last time we had an earthquake, Buffy died. Should I be worried?"
"One can only hope."
"Spike," Xander warns. "There is a wrench hanging up over there by the workbench. Try tightening the coupling."
He sighs remembering the argument from last time. Spike is just too tired to bother. "All right, but if I fall and break my head...."
"It won't kill you so quit bitching. Here, I'll steady you. Just hurry up."
Xander hands him the wrench and stands there waiting. Spike isn't sure why the boy doesn't just do it himself. Maybe he's just amused by a vampire fixing things. With a sigh, Spike climbs up on the chair and starts tightening. He doesn’t even realize that he's leaning over a bit too far until he feels a big, warm hand plastered on his stomach.
"Vamp reflexes don't necessarily mean vamp balance, huh?"
Spike glances down at the dark eyes looking up at him and grunts, "You want to do this, mate?"
A couple of more twists and the leak drips off into nothing. Spike drops his arms and looks back down at the boy. Xander is staring up at the pipe and it takes two throat clearings before he realizes that his hand is still on Spike's stomach. He jerks the hand away as if it was on fire, which only causes Spike to smirk.
"There now. Any more jobs you need done around here? I could get my bloody tool belt, but we'd have to wait for the cheesy porno music to start."
He grins at the flustered look on Xander's face, but the boy quickly recovers with, "Don't flatter yourself, Fangless."
"What am I supposed to do while you're gone? I'm bored. At least Giles had books to look at." Spike complains, hopping down and tossing the wrench onto workbench too hard.
Xander grabs his keys and heads for the door. "So clean, do laundry."
"I'm not your sodding mum!" he yells to the retreating back. He looks around the room with another sigh.
***
A noise jerks him awake and he looks over to see a pizza box lying on the bed beside him. Xander stands over him with his arms crossed. Spike glances at the alarm clock on the side table. He's only been asleep for a couple of hours.
"You're in my bed!"
"My chair is still wet. When will you people realize that vampires sleep during the day?" he asks and rolls over to scratch his chest.
"Oh god, please tell me you have something on under that blanket."
Spike kicks his leg out to show the gray sweats he's wearing. He grabs the pizza box and starts rooting around inside. Xander sits on the edge of the bed and plucks at the pants leg.
"You're in my bed AND wearing my clothes?"
"My stuff is in the dryer. I'm hoping it doesn't shrink this time. Oh, and I cleaned and did your nasty laundry. You're welcome, you wanker."
Xander looks surprised and glances around the room for the first time. He looks at Spike, looks at the room, and then looks at Spike again. His mouth is moving but fortunately there's no sound coming out. Spike rolls his eyes and flips two fingers at the boy.
"When I told you to clean I didn't expect you to actually do it!"
"It's not like I had anything else to do. Plus, I'm a Master Vampire. I refuse to live in filth."
"You lived in that musty old factory."
"Shut up."
Xander reaches across him and snags a piece of pizza. "I called Giles from work. He's doing research on those demons that are going to try and open the Hellmouth or whatever you told him. He says the earthquake was probably a good sign. We have to head over there in a little while."
"Right, so we round up the posse and kick some demon ass," he says with glee. He hasn't gotten much action since Thanksgiving. The Scoobies weren't comfortable enough yet to let him patrol.
"Yeah, maybe you should get dressed first."
A change of clothes later and they head to the Watcher's. As they come in the door, Willow is babbling with Buffy standing over her protectively. Xander rushes over to the redhead.
"Will, what's wrong?"
"Oh, Xander it was awful. There was this dead guy all carved up and...and Percy called me a nerd!"
Spike tries not to snicker. Xander shoots a confused look at Buffy who just shakes her head. Willow misses all the byplay and keeps talking.
"It just made me feel like I was right back in high school."
Spike watches Xander comfort the girl by getting all indignant. "Stupid jock. If it wasn't for you he still would be."
"If I could, love, I'd eat him for you," Spike says flopping down on the stairs.
"Oh, thanks, Spike... I think. I mean, I know the... Percy thing isn’t really important, it’s the... dead guy on the bed."
Buffy looks to Giles. "Willow said that some symbol was carved into the guy and his blood had been drained. I recognize it I think."
Willow unfolds a napkin and shows it to the others. Spike hops up to take a look. They pass the piece around and the boy makes a rather lame joke, which he completely ignores.
Buffy says, "I’m telling you I’ve seen this somewhere before, I just can’t remember where! I mean... It’s like...”
“It’s the end of the world,” Giles finishes.
"Again?" the three kids say in unison.
"Told you so," Spike grumbles. They all glance at him. "What?"
"From the description Spike gave me several days ago and that symbol I'm pretty sure we're dealing with Vahrall demons. They doing a ceremony called the 'sacrifice of three.' They need the blood of a man--which they have--the bones of a child, and the Word of Valios."
"Bones," Buffy murmurs. "I think I know where I've seen that symbol before."
"Good. Take Spike and try to stop them."
"Do I have to?" she whines at the same time as he says, "Nothing doing, Watcher."
"We're wasting time."
"No, Giles," he says, "I'm staying here with you. Let Buffy take care of the bones."
"Spike, this is no time to..."
"No, you git. You have the Word of Valios. They're going to come here."
Willow stands up from her chair. "What?"
"The first go around, Buffy let the demon get away," Spike says ignoring the displeased 'Hey!' from the Slayer. "That's when you thought there was only one of them, not three. You didn't know what the Word of Valios was. You sent Willow and Xander to look in the museum. I went with them. When we got back here after finding nothing the demons had already come, knocked you 'round, and taken the thing."
"So it's an object. Show me what it looks like," Giles says sliding over a pad of paper.
He doodles a rough picture of the talisman, and the Watcher hurries away and starts going through his things looking for it. Buffy starts tapping her foot impatiently.
"So what's the plan?"
"Hmm?" Giles asks distractedly as he pulls out a jewelry box and paws through it.
"Giles! Plan!"
"Oh! Um, you should go try to stop the demon from getting the bones. Spike and the others can stay here with me to guard the Word until you get back."
"I don't trust you with him."
Spike growls, "Like I want the world to end? Go do your duty, Slayer. They'll be as safe as houses."
He watches her flounce off in a huff. When she grabs a crossbow by the door, he unconsciously steps behind the witch just in case she gets any ideas. Instead, the door is flung open and Buffy disappears out into the night. He sighs and tries not to think about when he used to have her back, always watching over her. Not that she needed it. Watching her fight used to be one of his greatest thrills. Spike shakes his head with a regretful smile. A hand on his arm makes him look up. Willow is giving him her worried look. He tries to think if he's ever seen her turn that look in his direction before.
"Are you okay, Spike?"
"Yeah, ducks. Just remembering is all. You know if it wasn't for you and Xander, I would have dusted myself on this night."
"What?" the boy asks joining them.
"The first time around. Dru had left me. Didn't know I could fight demons at the time thought I was completely defenseless. I had to live with, Harris."
"Hey! Remember who pays for the plasma around here, pal."
"Anyway, it was my lowest point. I was in the middle of ending it all when you two walked in and stopped me. Then when we were fighting the Vahralls I realized I could hurt demons. Cheered me up a bit."
"Aw, that's sweet," Willow says and pats his arm reassuringly then realizes what she's doing. Her face twists up. "In a violent, scary sort of way."
Xander munches on a scone and says, "And that's different from every other night of our lives how exactly?"
Willow gives a little 'true' nod. Spike shakes his head at them. Hellmouth kids definitely were a different breed. Half an hour later, Buffy comes back in with no bones. Spike gives her his smarmiest grin.
"Stupid demons! Riley even saw it get away. His team's on alert too."
Giles looks up from his reading with surprise. "So he is one of the commandos like Spike said?"
"Oh, um yeah. Did I not mention that? I thought I'd mentioned that."
"No, you most certainly didn't."
"Oops. Well, he helped me out fighting off the Gentlemen! I don't think he's all bad like Spike says. I mean, anyone that puts the whammy on him can't be all bad, right?"
"You just keep thinking that Buffy, and when you become a threat and they try to kill you and come after your mates here, I'll try not to say I told you so," he says trying to hold back his rage.
"Shut up, Spike. You're just pissed because they chipped you like a cookie!"
"Enough!" Giles yells loudly while Willow mouths 'chip you like a cookie?' at Xander who looks just as confused.
"Either way it's good that Buffy is friends with this Riley. We'll get more information that way. Right now we have a more pressing threat."
"Right, so we just sit around and wait for them to come? Have you noticed we've been doing that a lot lately?" Xander asks in a worried voice.
"He's right," Buffy quickly agrees and stalks toward Spike with a stake. "Maybe that's all apart of your plan, huh Spikey?"
He leans back with arms open. "Go on then. Stake me. See how far you get fighting those three uglies without my help. Let the world go to hell including your friends and Joyce and Dawn."
Buffy pauses and asks, "Who's Dawn?"
He realizes they're all staring at him. How the hell does he explain Dawn without them thinking he's cracked? Fortunately, the Vahralls take that moment to kick in the door.
"Good timing, boys!" Spike says with a snarl and barrels into the first Vahrall knocking him and his buddy back outside. He hears Xander and Willow screaming and realizes that the third one had been sneaky enough to come in the back door. Buffy brushes past him and starts in on the second one.
They fight side-by-side, spirit and strength. She isn't doing her usual quips, and he knows her mind is on the fight inside the house. She's trying to dispatch her enemy quickly so that she can help the others.
"Go! I'll hold these two off." Buffy's eyes flash at him and he yells again. "Go!"
She pulls back and races inside. Spike backs up and takes a defensive position by the door, wishing he'd grabbed a weapon in his haste. Almost by magic, and who can really tell in Sunnydale, he hears Xander yell his name and a double bladed axe skids out the door between his legs.
Spike grabs it up and starts swinging with a roar. It does nicely keeping the two demons back. One gets a little too bold and ends up with a big gash in his arm for the trouble. Suddenly, just as quickly as they appeared, the Vahralls turn and run. Before he can fully mock them, he hears a thump and Buffy yelling behind him. Spike spins around and runs inside. The Slayer is sprawled out on the floor with her Watcher on top of her looking a bit worse for wear. Xander runs in from the back with a frightened look on his face. Spike realizes what's missing.
"Where's Willow?"
Xander turns to look at him. "He took her."
"The Word?" he asks helping Giles to his feet. The older man opens his hand where the talisman still lies.
"Why do they want Willow?" Buffy asks also getting up.
"It's obvious," the Watcher answers. "We have something they want, and now they have something we want."
"They really think we're going to just hand over the key to the apocalypse?" she asks.
"They're willingly throwing themselves into the Hellmouth, pet. Nobody said they were smart."
Xander says determinedly, "We have to get Willow back."
"Don't worry," Spike replies holding the axe up with a nod to the boy. "We know where they're going."
Spike takes the lead as they walk to the old burnt out high school. He's not straggling behind feeling sorry for himself like the first time, and it feels good. He knows that a change is slowly happening. For once the Scoobies are looking to him. It reminds him of the summer... the summer Buffy had died. That was the summer that he had become part of the team more or less. Of course, once they had gotten their precious Slayer back he was tossed out with the garbage, not even given a second glance. Spike wonders if part of that feeling had bled into his relationship with Buffy. It would explain the ending perhaps, but no, that was all him and Buffy's doing.
He watches her move past him as soon as they step into the school. The boy brushes up against his shoulder and Spike looks at him.
"Buffy's going to go after Willow. She feels bad because she couldn’t stop that thing from taking her."
"Yeah."
"So I guess the apocalypse stopping is up to you and me."
"As long as we keep the Word in my pocket where it is, we're fine." He pauses and looks closer. "You look worried."
"I love Will. I don't want her getting hurt, but..."
"Right now keeping the world from going to hell is more important," Spike finishes for him.
Xander gives a small "yeah" and stares at his shoes. Spike ignores the urge to clasp the boy on the shoulder.
"I hate this," Xander whispers and goes after Buffy.
The demons are down near the hole, much like they were before. This time, though, one of them is holding Willow dangerously close to the edge. He waves Buffy around to the other side before putting his fingers to his lips and giving a loud whistle. Three sets of jet black eyes and one set of scared hazel ones turn to him. Spike pulls out the Word of Valios and waves it around a bit.
"So which of you tossers has the guts to come take this from me?"
The Vahrall holding Willow tightens his grip on the girl causing her to yelp. The other two move towards him menacingly. He tries to keep the smile off his face. It couldn't have worked better if he told them what to do. As soon as the two are clear, Buffy jumps from the side and goes for Willow and the third. The redhead is tossed onto her hands and knees. Buffy takes out her rage on the third demon with a yell. The other two turn at the noise leaving their backs exposed. Spike goes after one, while the boy comes out from behind a pillar swinging his axe at the other. The rest is rather anticlimactic. Spike breaks the neck of his demon and then helps Xander dispatch the second. Only Buffy is left fighting. She keeps punching and kicking furiously. Finally, Spike's had enough for the evening and pulls the Slayer away to break the last one's neck himself.
"I wasn't done!" she yells.
"Look after, Red," he says quietly and picks up the blood and bones.
The blood he slips into a duster pocket quickly. The bones he slings over his shoulder. When he turns, he sees Willow still on the floor clutched to a kneeling Xander. Buffy joins them and crouches down to run her hand over the fall of red hair. Spike pulls the talisman back out of his pocket and looks at it a bit. With a shrug, he tosses it down the hole. The Hellmouth gives a slight rumble causing the others to look at him.
"Won't have to worry about that again. Let's get out of here." He bends down and picks up Xander's discarded axe. The others shuffle out ahead of him. They're not fifty feet down the hall before they bump into Riley in his uniform.
There are some accusations and some bad lying on cornfed's part. Spike just brushes past them all, not wanting to even deal with the commando. He waits outside not sure if he should just go or what. It only takes a few moments before Xander comes out. There's a big smudge of dirt across his cheek, and Spike smirks but doesn't mention it.
"Let's go home," the boy says with a sigh.
Spike knows he's still thinking about having to make the choice between Willow and the world. It's weighing heavily across the lad's shoulders. Spike decides not to give the boy any grief tonight. "Right."