The Wrong Part
Title: The Wrong Part
Creator: TheFoxinator
Rating: T
Setting: AU 6.19 "Seeing Red" through around 7.01 "Lessons."
Summary/Prompt: Mr. Scattybones: To Switch a Witch (angst)
Word Count: 519
It’s so simple it hurts.
They stand the other way.
Tara leans against the dresser. Willow watches her best friends reconcile below her before turning back, to give them a little privacy.
They don’t hear the arguing until it’s too late. Until it’s through the shattered glass and until Tara’s sweater is stained with red.
Willow dies in her arms.
Buffy dies on the operating table while Xander holds Tara’s hand.
Anya tells Giles in person, because it’s supposed to be better that way. He still doesn’t come to the funerals.
Dawn won’t let them keep her from the trial. “He can’t just take her from me. He can’t just take both of them.”
When Warren’s sentenced, the fire leaves and she doesn’t want to leave her bed.
Tara loses custody in months. Though she never really truly had it anyway.
Xander drinks and yells.
“He didn’t want to get married because he’s afraid he’ll be like his parents,” Anya tells Tara. “He already is.”
Tara can’t keep the house, but she has no reason to anyway.
She doesn’t finish the semester and sleeps on Anya’s couch for the summer while she tries to decide if she’ll transfer or not. She returns to UC Sunnydale in the fall, even though it might have been better to take the semester off.
Tara finds Spike downtown when she leaves her shift at the Espresso Pump. He’s lost. Confused. His aura is different. So is his hair.
She has no idea where he’s been for months.
“Can’t find her,” Spike says. He doesn’t look quite at Tara. “Looked. Looked where they said. Nothing’s there. No light, no spark. Need the girl for the spark. Need the spark for the girl.”
Wherever’s he’s been doesn’t sound much better than here.
“Buffy?” Tara asks. “Are you looking for Buffy?”
He swallows. Shakes. “Won’t hurt her,” he says. “Mustn’t hurt the girl.”
“She’s dead, Spike.” She could tread carefully, she could break it slowly, gently. She could tell him to sit down first. But she saw how he hurt her, held her when she cried. And she knows better than to think someone can stop hurting people just like that. “Buffy died.”
He’s quiet for a moment. Totally still. Then he laughs. Loudly. Hysterically. “They told me, you know. Told me. Came by, her and her, and me, and told me. Came by without permission. They were supposed to get permission.”
“Spike,” says Tara.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he says. “Nothing to stop it. Not now. Not with you. Switched the witch. You’re in the wrong part.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Spike.”
He looks at her for real and she’s surprised when he does. He stares for a long time and Tara discovers how the rest of the Scooby Gang must have felt about him for years. She never knew him as a threat to her but when he meets her eyes, she’s terrified. His stare is sharp and intense and frighteningly serious. He leans in close and even though Tara flinches, she can’t run.
“From beneath you, it devours.”
Creator: TheFoxinator
Rating: T
Setting: AU 6.19 "Seeing Red" through around 7.01 "Lessons."
Summary/Prompt: Mr. Scattybones: To Switch a Witch (angst)
Word Count: 519
It’s so simple it hurts.
They stand the other way.
Tara leans against the dresser. Willow watches her best friends reconcile below her before turning back, to give them a little privacy.
They don’t hear the arguing until it’s too late. Until it’s through the shattered glass and until Tara’s sweater is stained with red.
Willow dies in her arms.
Buffy dies on the operating table while Xander holds Tara’s hand.
Anya tells Giles in person, because it’s supposed to be better that way. He still doesn’t come to the funerals.
Dawn won’t let them keep her from the trial. “He can’t just take her from me. He can’t just take both of them.”
When Warren’s sentenced, the fire leaves and she doesn’t want to leave her bed.
Tara loses custody in months. Though she never really truly had it anyway.
Xander drinks and yells.
“He didn’t want to get married because he’s afraid he’ll be like his parents,” Anya tells Tara. “He already is.”
Tara can’t keep the house, but she has no reason to anyway.
She doesn’t finish the semester and sleeps on Anya’s couch for the summer while she tries to decide if she’ll transfer or not. She returns to UC Sunnydale in the fall, even though it might have been better to take the semester off.
Tara finds Spike downtown when she leaves her shift at the Espresso Pump. He’s lost. Confused. His aura is different. So is his hair.
She has no idea where he’s been for months.
“Can’t find her,” Spike says. He doesn’t look quite at Tara. “Looked. Looked where they said. Nothing’s there. No light, no spark. Need the girl for the spark. Need the spark for the girl.”
Wherever’s he’s been doesn’t sound much better than here.
“Buffy?” Tara asks. “Are you looking for Buffy?”
He swallows. Shakes. “Won’t hurt her,” he says. “Mustn’t hurt the girl.”
“She’s dead, Spike.” She could tread carefully, she could break it slowly, gently. She could tell him to sit down first. But she saw how he hurt her, held her when she cried. And she knows better than to think someone can stop hurting people just like that. “Buffy died.”
He’s quiet for a moment. Totally still. Then he laughs. Loudly. Hysterically. “They told me, you know. Told me. Came by, her and her, and me, and told me. Came by without permission. They were supposed to get permission.”
“Spike,” says Tara.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he says. “Nothing to stop it. Not now. Not with you. Switched the witch. You’re in the wrong part.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Spike.”
He looks at her for real and she’s surprised when he does. He stares for a long time and Tara discovers how the rest of the Scooby Gang must have felt about him for years. She never knew him as a threat to her but when he meets her eyes, she’s terrified. His stare is sharp and intense and frighteningly serious. He leans in close and even though Tara flinches, she can’t run.
“From beneath you, it devours.”