Spike/Fred: Pi r Effulgent
Title: Pi r Effulgent
Author: sockmonkeyhere
Fandom: Angel (the series)
Pairing: Spike/Fred
Spoilers: BtVS Seasons 5-7; AtS Season 5; Angel: After the Fall comic books
Disclaimer: The characters in this manifesto are the creation of Mutant Enemy; the comic book panels are the creations of IDW.
Banner by sockmonkeyhere
“The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco”:
Fred: You see that in the science?
Spike: No, Love, in the poetry.
“Hellbound”:
Spike to Fred: Well... might be a hug in your future after all.
It all began - for me, at any rate - with a vampire. Way back in November of 2000, I’d been eating a TV dinner and watching the beginning of the porch scene in the Season 5 Buffy episode “Fool for Love” and thinking how spastic that villain Spike guy’s hair looked and how rotten he was to Harmony and dammit why did he have to replace my beloved Oz in the cast…
And then he looked at his weeping, despondent enemy with a trace of sympathy, and lowered his shotgun. I lowered my fork. Spike - evil SPIKE - was patting Buffy awkwardly on the shoulder and asking if there was anything he could do to help. My Swanson Chicken Pot Pie now cold and forgotten, I stared at the screen in amazement and thought to myself, “Well, I’ll be damned. He’s got some goodness in him! There’s more to this character than I thought!”
From that point on, I felt sorry for Spike. I began to like the guy. I was even able to overlook his ol’ hair helmet. And when he fell in love with Buffy, I wanted him to win her love in return. And when he became a friend and protector of Dawn and Joyce, I wanted him to become a member of their family. And when he threw in his lot with the Scoobies and was kind to brain-damaged Tara and tag-teamed with Willow to get to Glory’s tower…and oh, dear lord, when he broke down in sobs at the sight of Buffy’s dead body…I wanted the gang to finally accept him.
Unfortunately, I never felt that any of those “I want”s came to fruition. Seasons 6 and 7 left me very disappointed and unsatisfied, and feeling more pity for Spike than ever. After struggling against all odds to be a better man, he deserved a reward for his suffering and efforts…he deserved his heart’s desire: a girlfriend who was openly kind and affectionate and happy and not ashamed of him or of her feelings for him. Someone like Tara, perhaps, or like the Buffybot (who, tellingly, he had programmed with those very qualities), or…like Fred. Gentle, goofy, friendly Fred, who’d been through so much hell herself and still managed to maintain her love for life and her faith in humanity. And the more I thought about Spike joining the cast of Angel, the more I thought to myself, “Why not Fred?”
A relationship with Fred would be a clean slate, a fresh start, with none of the negative baggage of Spike’s time in Sunnydale. It wouldn’t have to be epic the way it was with Dru and Buffy; on AtS Spike would no longer be allowed to be the romantic leading man anyway - that space being reserved for the show’s star, Angel - so any new romance for him would undoubtedly be kept low-key. And I didn’t mind that at all, as the epic, angsty, trauma-and-abuse-laden romance thing had already been done…SO done, in fact, that I was emotionally exhausted by it and ready for something peaceful and simple.
The early part of AtS’s final season seemed to be setting the stage for exactly that, as Fred showed herself to be immune to Angel’s jealous insults and Gunn’s skepticism and Wesley’s foreboding (to say nothing of the former watcher’s strange lack of interest in a vampire who’d taken back his own soul! ...Yes, I'm still trying to figure that one out.) She was willing to give Spike a fair chance. And Spike in turn was drawn by her compassion…so much so that he was soon risking his life to protect her. She believed beyond a doubt that he was truly a hero. There was teasing and flirting, but of a sweet, fondly nature, not meant to aggravate her or overpower. Fred brought out Spike’s inner William the Poet.
Unfortunately, after only a few episodes of this blossoming relationship, the storyline changed and Fred and Spike were rarely shown together anymore, their closeness seemingly forgotten. (And then they killed Fred off, for which I’ll NEVER FORGIVE MUTANT ENEMY! *ahem*…But that’s another rant.) The official continuation of AtS in comic book form brought a brief resurgence of hope when Spike stumbled across a resurrected Fred and became her loving caretaker. Then once again, hope and joy were destroyed when it was revealed that it wasn’t Fred after all, but only Illyria mimicking Fred and fooling Spike. Hopefully there’ll someday be a writer on the comic book staff who wants Fred to live and will bring her back permanently…and perhaps even pair her up with Spike again.
I truly believe that Fred and Spike would appeal to each other. For one thing, Fred bears similarities to many of the beloved females in Spike’s past: like Drusilla, she’s a bit odd, and was cuckoo post-Pylea (she physically resembles Dru quite a bit, too); she’s got the motherly, supportive nature of Joyce; she has Buffy’s bravery in the face of danger; and there’s an almost childish innocence about her like Dawn. If need be, she’s quite capable of taking care of herself, but she seems the type who wouldn’t mind at all if her fella wanted to take on the role of chivalrous, courtly knight and treat her as his tender lady fair. At the same time, I can’t imagine Spike becoming upset if Fred wanted to personally break open a can of whup-ass on someone who’s done her wrong (*cough*ProfessorSeidel*.) And that brain of hers? Hey, she’s his “fetching mad scientist.” I think he’d be damn proud of it.
They jive in other ways, as well. Fred’s gone through some of the same torments that Spike has: both have dealt with bouts of insanity, and been subjected to long-term control through electrical shocks (her by the “cow” slave collar; he by the Initiative chip) - she gets where he’s coming from. They have fun together, too, and obviously enjoy each other’s company; in some of the TV episode scenes, they were shown sharing a sense of play that was quite charming (“Eeeek! Look! I dropped my papers!”) And they’ve got matching cheekbones. Yes, I know that’s irrelevant.
Then there’s comedy. Both characters have proven adept at bringing the silly -- Fred’s drunken bellow, “HEY, YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME, BUDDY? THAT’S RIGHT, KEEP WALKING. YOU WALK ALONE! YOU WALK ALONE!" is right up there with the best of Spike’s hilarious “wacky neighbor” moments of BtVS Season 4.
There could also be angst, if necessary. Spike would be on the rebound from Buffy, after all, and Fred would be on the rebound from Gunn (if your story is a new version of Season 5) or in shock/mourning over Wesley (if your story’s post-Not Fade Away.) Throw some of those exes into the tale and you’ve got a helluva mess. Then there’d be all the trauma of Fred dealing with Illyria, and Spike dealing with the limitations of sex with a frail human, and Spike maybe having horrible flashbacks about his re-souling and his time in the school basement, and Fred maybe being a basket case after resurrection, and Spike being torn between letting her go as he did in “A Hole in the World” or keeping whatever part of her was left, however damaged, as he wanted to do with Buffy in “Afterlife”…or just, y’know, OUTSIDE STUFF giving them grief! The source of angst doesn’t always have to be from within. There could be an angst demon, who blows angst-inducing vapors from its nose, and leaves dried-up angst boogers underneath our couple’s nightstand…(This segment of the manifesto brought to you by Willow and her mindless babblespeak.)
And yes, there could be hotness. Fred often dressed like a mousy frump, but the girl herself was quite pretty. (My goodness, have you seen some of Amy Acker’s Maxim photos? Yowza!) There was even a primal, primitive eroticism to her persona at times - witness the scene in which she’s standing on a hill in Pylea, long, tangled hair falling around her unwashed face and enormous brown eyes as she holds aloft a bloodied arm to Angel. She might not have the physical stamina of a slayer or a vampire, but she’s definitely shown evidence of the potential to match their sexual passion. And she and Spike have definitely shown evidence that they find each other sexually attractive (the episode “Hellbound” being the strongest example.)
For now, it’s up to the audience to take all those elements and deliver a story. Within the Spred fandom there’s currently a small but very well-written number of fanfics, some graphics and manips, and even a video or two (which is no mean feat considering that there’s no footage of the actors kissing, hugging, or even touching each other!) Most of the fics I’ve seen are alternate reality versions of AtS Season 5, with a few here and there set after the TV series finale. A list of the fics, with links, can be found here:
http://www.fuzzyshark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=53
http://www.fanforum.com/f58/spike-fred-appreciation-5-because-s-meant-kinda-thing-62907361/
Links to Spred art and videos here:
http://www.fuzzyshark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=326
Spred meta here:
http://www.fuzzyshark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=327
And Spred discussion here:
http://community.livejournal.com/spred/
http://www.fuzzyshark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=939 (must be a member to view)
http://www.fanforum.com/f58/spike-fred-appreciation-5-because-s-meant-kinda-thing-62907361/
http://www.fanforum.com/f58/poetic-science-4-spike-fred-because-reality-bends-desire-6598/
Back in the beginning of AtS’s final season, about a dozen Spike/Fred websites sprang up. Most have since closed, but here’s the ones that still exist as of this writing:
(1) Between Heaven and Hell
http://geocities.com/betweenhh/
(2) Saving Grace
http://forsaken-faith.org/sg/index2.htm
(3) Buttery
http://buttery.adamao.org/
My favorite Spred video is this piece by DarlaProduction (aka Mscotstar), which is done so skillfully and beautifully that it looks as if they’re actually making love! With each other! It’s an alternate reality Season 4 called Spike and Fred ~ A Different Path:
http://buffytube.ning.com/video/spike-and-fred-a-different
The best actual TV episodes for shippy Spike/Fred scenes are AtS Season 5’s “Just Rewards” (particularly the ending), “The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco” (He called her ‘Luv.’ *swoon*), and “Hellbound” (He wants to hug her! He’s lookin’ at her nekid! He’s furious when Creepy Reaper Guy makes sexual threats toward her! No, no, wait, don’t roll the end credits; he hasn’t gotten his hug yet! HE DESERVES A HUG! WE DESERVE TO SEE THE HUG! AAAAAAAAUGH!)
And for some examples of excellent Spred fanfic, check out anything by kats_meow, buffyx, evenstar, or kantayra. (I’m a Spred writer, too, although my stuff tends to take forever and sometimes leans toward the goony.)
And here’s the bits from the comic books that seemed to promise a Spred romance (but sadly and inexplicably, didn’t deliver):
(They're sharin' a heart-shaped shard! At least the artist seems to still be a Spred fan.)
So that’s my thoughts on the Spike/Fred ‘ship. Brought often to the brink of canonization, but never quite allowed to get there, it’s a pairing that glows like a small, lost, forgotten gold nugget. For those of us who are tired of unrequited love and Spike being treated as the outsider, and for those of us sickened by Fred getting wiped from the series to make way for a newer and bluer character…maybe one day Spred’ll finally get to happen. Maybe, someday, reality really will bend to our desire.
It’s worth saving.
Author: sockmonkeyhere
Fandom: Angel (the series)
Pairing: Spike/Fred
Spoilers: BtVS Seasons 5-7; AtS Season 5; Angel: After the Fall comic books
Disclaimer: The characters in this manifesto are the creation of Mutant Enemy; the comic book panels are the creations of IDW.
Banner by sockmonkeyhere
“The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco”:
Fred: You see that in the science?
Spike: No, Love, in the poetry.
“Hellbound”:
Spike to Fred: Well... might be a hug in your future after all.
It all began - for me, at any rate - with a vampire. Way back in November of 2000, I’d been eating a TV dinner and watching the beginning of the porch scene in the Season 5 Buffy episode “Fool for Love” and thinking how spastic that villain Spike guy’s hair looked and how rotten he was to Harmony and dammit why did he have to replace my beloved Oz in the cast…
And then he looked at his weeping, despondent enemy with a trace of sympathy, and lowered his shotgun. I lowered my fork. Spike - evil SPIKE - was patting Buffy awkwardly on the shoulder and asking if there was anything he could do to help. My Swanson Chicken Pot Pie now cold and forgotten, I stared at the screen in amazement and thought to myself, “Well, I’ll be damned. He’s got some goodness in him! There’s more to this character than I thought!”
From that point on, I felt sorry for Spike. I began to like the guy. I was even able to overlook his ol’ hair helmet. And when he fell in love with Buffy, I wanted him to win her love in return. And when he became a friend and protector of Dawn and Joyce, I wanted him to become a member of their family. And when he threw in his lot with the Scoobies and was kind to brain-damaged Tara and tag-teamed with Willow to get to Glory’s tower…and oh, dear lord, when he broke down in sobs at the sight of Buffy’s dead body…I wanted the gang to finally accept him.
Unfortunately, I never felt that any of those “I want”s came to fruition. Seasons 6 and 7 left me very disappointed and unsatisfied, and feeling more pity for Spike than ever. After struggling against all odds to be a better man, he deserved a reward for his suffering and efforts…he deserved his heart’s desire: a girlfriend who was openly kind and affectionate and happy and not ashamed of him or of her feelings for him. Someone like Tara, perhaps, or like the Buffybot (who, tellingly, he had programmed with those very qualities), or…like Fred. Gentle, goofy, friendly Fred, who’d been through so much hell herself and still managed to maintain her love for life and her faith in humanity. And the more I thought about Spike joining the cast of Angel, the more I thought to myself, “Why not Fred?”
A relationship with Fred would be a clean slate, a fresh start, with none of the negative baggage of Spike’s time in Sunnydale. It wouldn’t have to be epic the way it was with Dru and Buffy; on AtS Spike would no longer be allowed to be the romantic leading man anyway - that space being reserved for the show’s star, Angel - so any new romance for him would undoubtedly be kept low-key. And I didn’t mind that at all, as the epic, angsty, trauma-and-abuse-laden romance thing had already been done…SO done, in fact, that I was emotionally exhausted by it and ready for something peaceful and simple.
The early part of AtS’s final season seemed to be setting the stage for exactly that, as Fred showed herself to be immune to Angel’s jealous insults and Gunn’s skepticism and Wesley’s foreboding (to say nothing of the former watcher’s strange lack of interest in a vampire who’d taken back his own soul! ...Yes, I'm still trying to figure that one out.) She was willing to give Spike a fair chance. And Spike in turn was drawn by her compassion…so much so that he was soon risking his life to protect her. She believed beyond a doubt that he was truly a hero. There was teasing and flirting, but of a sweet, fondly nature, not meant to aggravate her or overpower. Fred brought out Spike’s inner William the Poet.
Unfortunately, after only a few episodes of this blossoming relationship, the storyline changed and Fred and Spike were rarely shown together anymore, their closeness seemingly forgotten. (And then they killed Fred off, for which I’ll NEVER FORGIVE MUTANT ENEMY! *ahem*…But that’s another rant.) The official continuation of AtS in comic book form brought a brief resurgence of hope when Spike stumbled across a resurrected Fred and became her loving caretaker. Then once again, hope and joy were destroyed when it was revealed that it wasn’t Fred after all, but only Illyria mimicking Fred and fooling Spike. Hopefully there’ll someday be a writer on the comic book staff who wants Fred to live and will bring her back permanently…and perhaps even pair her up with Spike again.
I truly believe that Fred and Spike would appeal to each other. For one thing, Fred bears similarities to many of the beloved females in Spike’s past: like Drusilla, she’s a bit odd, and was cuckoo post-Pylea (she physically resembles Dru quite a bit, too); she’s got the motherly, supportive nature of Joyce; she has Buffy’s bravery in the face of danger; and there’s an almost childish innocence about her like Dawn. If need be, she’s quite capable of taking care of herself, but she seems the type who wouldn’t mind at all if her fella wanted to take on the role of chivalrous, courtly knight and treat her as his tender lady fair. At the same time, I can’t imagine Spike becoming upset if Fred wanted to personally break open a can of whup-ass on someone who’s done her wrong (*cough*ProfessorSeidel*.) And that brain of hers? Hey, she’s his “fetching mad scientist.” I think he’d be damn proud of it.
They jive in other ways, as well. Fred’s gone through some of the same torments that Spike has: both have dealt with bouts of insanity, and been subjected to long-term control through electrical shocks (her by the “cow” slave collar; he by the Initiative chip) - she gets where he’s coming from. They have fun together, too, and obviously enjoy each other’s company; in some of the TV episode scenes, they were shown sharing a sense of play that was quite charming (“Eeeek! Look! I dropped my papers!”) And they’ve got matching cheekbones. Yes, I know that’s irrelevant.
Then there’s comedy. Both characters have proven adept at bringing the silly -- Fred’s drunken bellow, “HEY, YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME, BUDDY? THAT’S RIGHT, KEEP WALKING. YOU WALK ALONE! YOU WALK ALONE!" is right up there with the best of Spike’s hilarious “wacky neighbor” moments of BtVS Season 4.
There could also be angst, if necessary. Spike would be on the rebound from Buffy, after all, and Fred would be on the rebound from Gunn (if your story is a new version of Season 5) or in shock/mourning over Wesley (if your story’s post-Not Fade Away.) Throw some of those exes into the tale and you’ve got a helluva mess. Then there’d be all the trauma of Fred dealing with Illyria, and Spike dealing with the limitations of sex with a frail human, and Spike maybe having horrible flashbacks about his re-souling and his time in the school basement, and Fred maybe being a basket case after resurrection, and Spike being torn between letting her go as he did in “A Hole in the World” or keeping whatever part of her was left, however damaged, as he wanted to do with Buffy in “Afterlife”…or just, y’know, OUTSIDE STUFF giving them grief! The source of angst doesn’t always have to be from within. There could be an angst demon, who blows angst-inducing vapors from its nose, and leaves dried-up angst boogers underneath our couple’s nightstand…(This segment of the manifesto brought to you by Willow and her mindless babblespeak.)
And yes, there could be hotness. Fred often dressed like a mousy frump, but the girl herself was quite pretty. (My goodness, have you seen some of Amy Acker’s Maxim photos? Yowza!) There was even a primal, primitive eroticism to her persona at times - witness the scene in which she’s standing on a hill in Pylea, long, tangled hair falling around her unwashed face and enormous brown eyes as she holds aloft a bloodied arm to Angel. She might not have the physical stamina of a slayer or a vampire, but she’s definitely shown evidence of the potential to match their sexual passion. And she and Spike have definitely shown evidence that they find each other sexually attractive (the episode “Hellbound” being the strongest example.)
For now, it’s up to the audience to take all those elements and deliver a story. Within the Spred fandom there’s currently a small but very well-written number of fanfics, some graphics and manips, and even a video or two (which is no mean feat considering that there’s no footage of the actors kissing, hugging, or even touching each other!) Most of the fics I’ve seen are alternate reality versions of AtS Season 5, with a few here and there set after the TV series finale. A list of the fics, with links, can be found here:
http://www.fuzzyshark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=53
http://www.fanforum.com/f58/spike-fred-appreciation-5-because-s-meant-kinda-thing-62907361/
Links to Spred art and videos here:
http://www.fuzzyshark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=326
Spred meta here:
http://www.fuzzyshark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=327
And Spred discussion here:
http://community.livejournal.com/spred/
http://www.fuzzyshark.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=939 (must be a member to view)
http://www.fanforum.com/f58/spike-fred-appreciation-5-because-s-meant-kinda-thing-62907361/
http://www.fanforum.com/f58/poetic-science-4-spike-fred-because-reality-bends-desire-6598/
Back in the beginning of AtS’s final season, about a dozen Spike/Fred websites sprang up. Most have since closed, but here’s the ones that still exist as of this writing:
(1) Between Heaven and Hell
http://geocities.com/betweenhh/
(2) Saving Grace
http://forsaken-faith.org/sg/index2.htm
(3) Buttery
http://buttery.adamao.org/
My favorite Spred video is this piece by DarlaProduction (aka Mscotstar), which is done so skillfully and beautifully that it looks as if they’re actually making love! With each other! It’s an alternate reality Season 4 called Spike and Fred ~ A Different Path:
http://buffytube.ning.com/video/spike-and-fred-a-different
The best actual TV episodes for shippy Spike/Fred scenes are AtS Season 5’s “Just Rewards” (particularly the ending), “The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco” (He called her ‘Luv.’ *swoon*), and “Hellbound” (He wants to hug her! He’s lookin’ at her nekid! He’s furious when Creepy Reaper Guy makes sexual threats toward her! No, no, wait, don’t roll the end credits; he hasn’t gotten his hug yet! HE DESERVES A HUG! WE DESERVE TO SEE THE HUG! AAAAAAAAUGH!)
And for some examples of excellent Spred fanfic, check out anything by kats_meow, buffyx, evenstar, or kantayra. (I’m a Spred writer, too, although my stuff tends to take forever and sometimes leans toward the goony.)
And here’s the bits from the comic books that seemed to promise a Spred romance (but sadly and inexplicably, didn’t deliver):
(They're sharin' a heart-shaped shard! At least the artist seems to still be a Spred fan.)
So that’s my thoughts on the Spike/Fred ‘ship. Brought often to the brink of canonization, but never quite allowed to get there, it’s a pairing that glows like a small, lost, forgotten gold nugget. For those of us who are tired of unrequited love and Spike being treated as the outsider, and for those of us sickened by Fred getting wiped from the series to make way for a newer and bluer character…maybe one day Spred’ll finally get to happen. Maybe, someday, reality really will bend to our desire.
It’s worth saving.