Loosen End
Chapter 4
by Cynthia Taz (cynthia_taz@yahoo.com)
* Disclaimer and other information on Prologue.
Notes:
- Thank you for all your wonderful reviews. As for Spike, well, I've something in store for him so he will be with the gang (at least in the mean time). Sorry if it upset you.
// // = Voice
~.~.~.~
- LONDON, ENGLAND : PRESENT -
~.~.~.~
A man stepped inside his apartment and closed the door, a briefcase in hand. He looked up, and noticed a broken vase on the floor. "Nora?" He called, bad feeling stirring inside his stomach. He moved towards the living room, and broke into a run when he saw a young girl lying in a pool of blood. He dropped beside her, stunned, when some man wearing a cloak suddenly appeared from behind and held up a silver dragger. The man quickly turned, using his briefcase to block the attack, and round kicked the attacker onto the ground.
The man dashed towards the wall nearby, and grabbed the displayed sword, when another robed man appeared and stabbed him from behind. The man dropped onto the ground, lying next to the girl.
Behind him, the robed man stood there, blood dripping down from his dragger.
~.~.~.~
- SUNNYDALE, UNITED STATES : PRESENT -
~.~.~.~
Spike's eyes shot open when he heard someone knocked down the door of his new bedroom and moved towards him. Before he could react, he found himself being picked up from the bed and thrown towards the wall, his butt landing heavily on the floor. He blinked when he found it was the slayer who had thrown him to the wall. A very, very angry slayer. "Did you kill her?" She asked.
"What?"
"The girl. Last night."
"What girl?" Spike frowned, and turned on the light on the nightstand. "What are you talking about?"
"I caught the first act. I missed the curtain call. Did you kill her? Did you turn her? Is she one of your kind now?"
"W- Did you- are you following me?" Spike's eyes widened.
"Answer the question. Where. Is. She?" Buffy hissed.
Spike stood up and shrugged. "Who knows? I talked to her is all."
"Oh really?" Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Looked like more than talking to me."
"Well, I certainly didn't off her." Spike answered, picking up his shirt nearby and put it on. "Where are you getting this? You know I can't."
"Right. The chip." Buffy said, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"NO!" Spike shouted, frowning harder. "Not that chip, damn-it. You honestly think I'd go to the end of the underworld and back to get my soul and then..." He sighed. "Buffy, I can barely live with what I did. It haunts me. All of it. If you think that I would add to the body count now, you are crazy."
"So, what? You just troll the Promenade looking for drunk co-eds cause you're hungry for conversation?"
Spike stared at Buffy for a second, before suddenly laughed. "Oooh, is that what this is? Right."
"What?"
"You're jealous!"
"Don't play games. Not now."
"Yeah." Spike waved his hand a little. "You saw me chatting up another bird, giving the eye to somebody else. Touched a nerve, didn't it?"
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself."
Spike ignored Buffy's remark and continued. "It burns, huh? But you can't admit it, so you trump up some charge about me being back on the juice."
"This vampire I killed told me-"
"Told you what? That I go out? Yeah, I talk to people. Women. Talk to them 'cause I can't talk to you."
"Save it, Spike."
"As daft a notion as 'Soulful Spike the Killer' is, it is nothing compared to the idea that another girl could mean anything to me. This chip... they did to me. I couldn't help it. But the soul, I got on my own... for you." Buffy eyed him, but said nothing. "So, yeah. I go and pass the time... with someone. But that's all it is is time, 'cause... God, help me, Buffy... it's still all about you."
"This vampire... he told me you sired him." Buffy said, her voice somehow calmer. "He said you killed him, dumped him in a parking lot somewhere."
"And you believe him? Vampires aren't..."
"I did follow you last night, and you know what? You didn't look lonely or casual to me. You looked like you were on the prowl."
"You can't know that." Spike frowned again.
"So, then, tell me. Tell me what happened. You talked to her, then what?"
"We talked. That's all I remember."
"All you remember?"
"I don't know. I go out. I talk to people or I don't. It's boring. It all bleeds together."
"Well, if you seem to forget that much, then..."
"Not that. The taste of human blood. That, I'd remember."
"You were camped out on the hell mouth talking to invisible people. Recently. How can you be sure of..."
"No! You are wrong. You've got an accusation from a pile of dust and not a shred of proof!"
"So, I'll get some." Buffy said firmly and turned. "Do me a favor. Stake yourself before I have to kill you."
Spike merely staring at Buffy's back as she walked away.
~.~.~.~
//You got so many books.//
Willow grinned. "That's me, geeky Willow." She picked up another book from the table nearby and sorted it into the book case. The redhead had spent the whole day yesterday un-packing all hers and Tara's clothes she had brought from the Summers' basement and put them into their new bedroom. Today she had started working on the books, sorting them into the case that once belonged to her father.
//Very... Giles-ish.//
"I'm not stuffy though." The redhead giggled. Suddenly, she halted, and turned towards Tara. "I'm not, am I?"
//No.//
Tara smiled.
//Even if you are, you're still my Willow.//
"Good to know." Willow grinned. "So... the spell... we're doing it tonight, right?" She asked casually, even though her gestured indicated the opposite.
//You'll be fine.//
Tara ensured. She looked around at the pile of books next to her, her eyes stopped at an opened notebook with different chemical and mathematic formulas on it.
//What's this?//
"Um?" Willow turned and picked up the notebook. "Oh. Just some old calculations I did back when we fought the mayor. You know, the one I use to calculate how much explosive we needed to blow up the high school instead of blowing up the whole Sunnydale?"
//Huh.// Paused. //Interesting.//
"Yeah. I figure we should keep it around in case we have to blow up the new school when Dawnie's graduate." Willow smiled as she closed the notebook and put it onto the case. "Oh! The car salesman called. Said the car's here. We can pick it up later in the afternoon. A-and they got a new blue one if we want-"
//The red one.//
Tara said firmly.
"But-"
//Willow, we asked for the red one.//
"I know, but-"
//No but.//
Willow pouted, staring at Tara for a second and sighed. "Okay."
//So...//
The redhead couldn't help but smile when she saw a naught smirk crept up onto Tara's face - the smirk that usually only appeared when they were in the bedroom... alone.
//Playing with dynamite, huh?//
~.~.~.~
"Willow? WILL-LOW!" Buffy shouted as she walked into the Summers' house and closed the door. Stretching her arms, she moved towards the kitchen and started up the coffee machine, having to spend most of the night looking for Spike. "Stupid vampire." She muttered, before turning towards the hallway, looking for her friend. "WILL?" She called again, but yet finding no response. She frowned, and moved towards the second floor.
Buffy halted at the top of the stairs, her eyes staring at the opened master bedroom door. "Willow?" She could feel her heartbeat quicken as she moved towards the opened door. Step by step, she finally reached the doorframe, and found an empty bedroom... with a lonely note on the un-used bed.
~.~.~.~
"Um... dried alfalfa..." Willow picked up the small bag on the table and put it into her backpack. "Check." She smiled, and added a tick on the list she had in her hand. Putting down the list, the redhead stared at the small backpack in front of her for a minute, before starting to pull out everything from the bag, intended to check it again.
//Will, honey, this is the fifth time you checked the ingredients.//
"But what if I missed something?" Willow frowned. "W-what if I mess up?"
//You won't.//
Tara smiled.
//I trust you.//
Willow smiled painfully at her, before looking down at the floor. "You shouldn't have."
//But I do.//
Paused.
//And nothing can change that.//
The redhead witch looked up. "I love you." She mouthed, watching as a half smile slowly appeared on the blonde's face.
The two witches just stood there, staring at each other, enjoying the quiet moment between them. Suddenly, the phone rang, making both of them jumped. The redhead spun around, sending a dead glace at the phone, before turning back towards the table and started picking up the spell ingredients and checked them into the bag one by one - again.
"... Buffy." Willow paused as she heard the slayer's voice from the message machine. "I wanna call you on your cell but I just remembered that I never ask you for the number... anyways, call me when you're home, okay? We need to talk." Paused. "Bye." The redhead blinked and frowned.
//Still mad at Buffy?//
Willow shook her head, but said nothing.
//It's okay to be mad at her, you know?//
"I just don't wanna explain myself to her." Paused. "Not now."
//Just be careful. We don't need the slayer scooping around, messing things up when the time comes.//
Willow frowned and looked up at Tara, biting her lips.
//Don't tell me this isn't what you're thinking.//
Willow sighed, and walked towards the phone machine, pressing the erase button.
"ALL MESSAGES HAVE BEEN DELETED."
~.~.~.~
"What have you done now?"
"What?" Buffy frowned at her little sister. "I didn't do anything."
"You must have done something. Why else would Willow move out?"
"Oh, it can't be you-" Buffy halted as she saw pain flashed through Dawn's eyes. "Dawn-"
"I'm sure Buffster didn't mean it." Xander plugged in. "Will did say her folks' gave to give her the house."
"Wrote." Dawn pointed out. "She doesn't even have the guts to tell us herself."
"Dawn-" Buffy warned.
"Whatever." Dawn stood and picked up her bag, moving towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Xander asked, taking a bite from the donut he had bought earlier.
"School." Dawn replied. "I'm going to take a bus." She turned towards Buffy and smiled. "Don't want people seeing me with you."
"What's wrong with going to school with me?" Buffy frowned harder, watching her sister go. She then turned towards Xander. "I don't have mum's hair, do I?"
Xander quickly swallowed his breakfast and looked away.
~.~.~.~
Turning off the engine, Willow stepped out of her newly bought Jeep Wrangler with a bag on her shoulder. "I still think we should have gotten the blue one." She pouted, pulling up her feet from the pool of mud she had just stepped into. "Eww." Making a face, the redhead continued walking down the path. "May be we can drive the car back and-"
//Willow, we have been through this before.//
Tara sighed.
//Besides, red matches your hair.//
"But I like the blue one." Willow whined, her head dropped, kicking small stones on the ground along the way. "It matches your eyes."
//Honey, I don't think anyone would notice except you.//
"Only dummy wouldn't notice-"
//We're here.//
Willow looked up, and found herself staring at a huge clearing in the middle of the woods.
//Let the game begins.//
~.~.~.~
Xander sat in front of the television, a beer in hand. He turned when he heard the door of Spike's room opened, revealing the blond vampire who didn't bother to send a glance at him and headed for the front door. Xander quickly stood and moved himself in front of Spike, blocking his way.
"No, no. You're not going out."
"I have to go." Spike frowned.
"Buffy was very clear about the not leaving of you."
Spike frowned harder. "I know what the slayer told you. It's not true. Now let me go and I'll find a way to prove it."
"Okay." Xander crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'm gonna list the reasons that won't happen. One-" Before Xander could continue, Spike punched him in his face, effectively knocking him out.
"Ow!" Spike growled, his hand reached for his temple, before opening the door and left.
~.~.~.~
Dawn stepped inside the house and closed the front door. "Hello?" She called, walking into the kitchen and threw her bag at the corner. She opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water when she suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind.
//Things are coming Dawn.//
Dawn spun around, and found herself staring at her mother, who was wearing a robe in white, strange bright lights glowing around her. "Mum?"
//Listen, things are on their way. I love you, and I love Buffy, but she won't be there for you.//
"What? Why are you-"
//When it's bad, Buffy won't choose you. She'll be against you.//
Joyce smiled sadly.
//I'm sorry.//
Dawn took a step forward, but the figure quickly faded away and disappeared into nothing. The brunette ran towards where her mother was, tears started roaming down from her eyes. "No!" She looked around. "No! Don't go! Please! Don't go!" She screamed, before dropping onto the ground, sobbing.
~.~.~.~
"He hit you?"
Xander, with his eyes closed and an ice pack holding on his face, said softly. "Knocked me out. He's been gone for at least half an hour."
Buffy frowned. "Any idea where he's heading?"
~.~.~.~
Spike sighed, his eyes scanning around the crowd from the catwalk on the second floor of the Bronze. He had tried to find the woman he had talked yesterday, but it seemed that she had disappeared without a trace.
"One of them took your wallet?"
Spike turned around and found himself staring at a young attractive woman. "What's that?" He frowned.
"The way you're scanning the crowd?" The woman smirked. "You look like you're out for blood."
"I'm just looking for a certain bird I met here the other night."
"Um..." The woman took a step forward, her figure reached for Spike shoulder, slowly tracing along the lines on his jacket. "Was it me?"
"Sorry luv." Spike shrugged away from the woman. "Don't think so."
"Not even if I ask nicely?" The woman asked seductively, sitting on the arms of Spike's chair. Spike frowned harder. "Or are you the type that has to be convinced?"
"Friendly warning, pet. I'm the type best left alone."
"Huh. I get it. You'd rather I slip into something more comfortable." Spike's eyes widened when he saw the woman vamped out. "Should we pick off the crowd one-by-one, or block the exits and ravish the place?"
"Get away from me!" Spike jumped up, his back pressing against the wall.
"What's with the wallflower act?" The woman stepped closer. "You didn't seem so shy when you were biting me. I'm not asking if you wanna be soul mates, just figured you'd wanna have some fun." She turned towards a pair down at the dance floor. "I take him, you take her? Or the other way around? Whatever."
"No!" Spike grabbed the woman, forcefully turned her around to face him. "You're lying!"
The woman freed herself from Spike and shoved him away. "Is that all I was to you? A one-bite stand?!"
Spike vamped out, and charged at the woman. The two exchanged fists and kicks, and at last, Spike managed to stake her with a chair leg, her remaining dust scattered all over the floor. The blond vampire panted, and ran out of the Bronze.
~.~.~.~
After almost an hour of crying and sobbing, Dawn finally stood. She dried her tears, and moved towards the phone and picked it up. Her figure reached for the keys, pressing, and then stopped. Slowly, she put down the phone, her hand retreated. Looking around at the lonely house, the brunette picked up her bag, and went upstairs.
~.~.~.~
Buffy slowly walked up towards the bouncer at the entrance of the Bronze, her eyes glancing at the long line waiting outside.
"Hey sweetheart." Buffy looked up and found the bouncer smiling at her. "If you wanna go in, go ahead."
"Oh, uh, actually, I need some help." Buffy said. "I'm looking for this guy. Bleach-blonde hair, leather jacket, British accent? Kind of sallow but in a hot way?"
"Oh yeah." Bouncer nodded. "I know that guy. Billy Idol wannabe?"
"Actually, Billy Idol stole his look from- never mind." She shook her head. "Has he been here?"
"Is this guy your boyfriend or something?"
"No. I just-" Buffy took a deep breath. "I need to find him, as soon as possible."
"Yeah. He comes in here a lot lately. Every night leaves with a different girl. Chicks like Billy Idol."
Buffy frowned. "How many girls?"
"Look, this not-your-boyfriend guy? If I were you, I'd lose him. He's a real player."
~.~.~.~
Spike picked up the phone, and quickly dialed the number he had memorized by heart. "Hello? It's me." He said quietly. "I'm seeing... I think I'm remembering. I think I've done some very bad things." Paused. "I need... I need to see you. There's a house. 634 Hoffman Terrace." He put down the phone and stepped out of the phone box, his eyes focusing on the house in front of him.
//You shouldn't have done that.//
Spike spun around, and found himself staring at another him. He stumbled back, looking at his double, scared and confused. "You... me..."
//Not nearly. You're going against the plan, but we can make it work.//
~.~.~.~
"LIGO!"
Red energy shot out from Willow's body and hit the five candles that were surrounding the redhead. The flame of the candles brightened as a snake of fire appeared from no where and started running along on the circle the witch had drawn on the ground earlier, leaving a tail of fire behind.
Suddenly feeling drained, the redhead fell forward, merely missing the snake fire as it suddenly turned into the circle and shot right pass her. The last thing the witch saw was fire surrounding her shot up towards the night sky, creating a wall of flame around her numb body.
What she couldn't see was that she was now lying in the middle of huge burning pentagram.
~.~.~.~
Buffy slowly followed Spike's lead into the basement of house. "Down here." The vampire said, walking down the stairs. The slayer hesitated, standing at the top, watching instead of following. Spike turned around. "You won't come down? I understand. It's a risky proposition."
Buffy stared at Spike for a couple of seconds, before finally took a step, and another, and another, until she was standing in front of him. "All right. What do you want to show me?"
"I've been remembering. The girl. I walked her home. The one you saw. And the one before that. And I think I killed her." Buffy's eyes started to get wider. "And I think I... I think I killed the lady who lived here. And there might be others."
"Oh my God."
Spike slowly walked towards the center of the room. "Here." He stopped, staring at the dirt beneath him. "I think I buried them here."
"Why?" Buffy asked, and stood beside Spike.
"Well, I don't know, do I? I don't even know how. Shouldn't be-" Spike halted, and turned around, staring at the empty place near the stairs.
"What? What is it?" Buffy frowned as she got no response from the blonde vampire. "Spike!"
Suddenly, Spike turned around and vamped out. Buffy quickly pulled out a stake, but Spike wrenched it out of her hand and threw it away. Buffy fisted his jaw, sending him flying across the room. "What are you doing?!" She shouted.
Spike growled, picking up a piece of broken glass on the floor and swung at her, cutting her upper arm. Buffy held her injured arm, and kicked Spike in the stomach. Spike fell, and Buffy jumped onto him, grabbing his collar. "Spike, listen to me! You don't want to do this!"
The two spun around when they heard crawling and growling. Four vampires crawled out from the earth of the basement floor and charged themselves towards Buffy. "Oh God!" Buffy threw Spike towards the corner, before running towards the vampires and started fighting, but the slayer was quickly overpowered by them. The vampires held her, one on each limb, effectively immobilized her.
Buffy watched as Spike slowly stood and walked towards her. "Spike! No!"
Spike, still having his demon face on, stood right in front of her. He smelled the slayer on her neck, but instead of reaching for her pulse, he bend down, licking the opened wound on her arm. Suddenly, images flashing through Spike's eyes, all the images of him killing and burying people came back to him. He slowly looked up, his face molted back into the human one. "I remember." He whispered.
Everyone watched as Spike dropped onto the ground stumbled back towards the far end of the corner, curving himself into a ball. The slayer took the chance and freed herself from the other vampires, before picking up a shove nearby, break it into two and staked the vampires with its wooden handle. The slayer then slowly moved towards Spike, and stood in front of him. Spike looked up, tears roaming down his cheek, and held open his shirt. "Do it fast, okay?" Spike pleaded. "He said you'd do it."
"Who said?"
"Me. It was me. I saw it. I was here the whole time, talking and singing." He started sobbing. "There was a song."
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't know!" Spike shouted. "Please... I don't remember... don't make me remember..." His eyes slowly moved towards his other self behind Buffy. "Make it so I forget again! I did what you wanted!"
Buffy frowned, and started looking around. "There's something here." She said, throwing the wooden handle onto the floor.
"Oh God no! Please! I need that! I can't cry the soul out of me! It won't come! I killed, and I can feel 'em... I can feel every one of them..."
"There's something playing with us. All of us."
"What is it? Why is it doing this to me?" Spike asked.
Buffy turned back towards Spike, looking at him. "I don't know." She said softly.
"Will you... help me? Can you help me?"
The slayer stared at him for a moment. "I'll help you."
~.~.~.~
Andrew, wearing a long black leather trench coat and black boots, matching down towards the dark Sunnydale street with a tough look on his face. Beside him, Warren smiled, clapping his hands beside him.
//All right. Looking good. How do you feel?//
"Good."
//Excellent. We've got work to do.//
Andrew stopped, the tough look on his face disappeared. "Do I have to do work right now? Can't I just walk around for a while in my coat?"
Warren stood in front of Andrew.
//Don't go soft on me now. We're right in the trench, and the exhaust port's in sight.//
"I thought that was it. I did what you told me. It's not my fault it didn't work. Why do I have to do all the wet works-"
"Hey!" Warren cut him off. "You know the rules. I can't take corporeal form. Here. Feel." He opened his shirt. "C'mon."
Andrew hesitated for a moment, before holding up his hand and pressed right pass through Warren's body. "Cool." He smiled.
//Pretty bitchin', right? I'm like Obi Wan?//
"Or Patrick Swayze."
//Believe me, I would do this stuff if I could, but I can't. I need you. You're my iron fist.//
Andrew sighed. "I just don't think I can kill anybody else."
Within a blink, Warren's body morphed into Jonathan. The shorter boy smiled.
//Oh, will you stop worrying about that?'
"I didn't want to kill you." Andrew said to Jonathan. "Warren made me."
//Hey, I'm glad he did! This is the best thing that's ever happened to me.//
Jonathan smiled.
Andrew crossed his arms tightly as if he was cold. "It didn't hurt too much? I-I'm not very good at stabbing."
//You know, it wasn't that bad. It was like...//
Jonathan thought for a moment.
//...a sharp pain, then a burning, then a general queasiness. It's kinda like when I used to get ulcers in high school, only at the end I became one with light and hope.//
"I can't do it." Andrew sighed in defeat. "I can't do it anymore."
//Hey, it isn't your fault, okay? It's my fault the ritual didn't work. I screwed up. I-I'm little! I-I don't have as much blood as other people.//
Jonathan frowned.
//And I probably should've told someone I was anemic.//
Paused.
//Don't worry. We're gonna fix it. You gotta trust us. We know what we're doing.//
"I-I can't kill anybody else."
//Okay, calm down.//
Jonathan smiled.
//We can work around that.//
~.~.~.~
Spike sat on the couch at the Summers' house, a blanket held security around him. Behind him, Buffy was sitting around with Dawn, Xander and Anya.
"And you believe him?" Anya asked, looking at Buffy.
"You didn't see him down there. He really didn't know what he'd done. It wasn't in his control."
"Oh, an out of control serial killer." Xander rolled his eyes. "You're right, that's a great houseguest."
"Wait!" Dawn blinked. "Is he... is he staying here?"
"I don't know, but I'm not letting him out of my sight, that's for sure." Buffy sighed, and lower her voice. "I think there was something there, talking to him, making him do things." She paused. "Something's screwing with Spike big time." Dawn raised an eyebrow at Buffy's choice of word.
"So, you want him around because...?" Xander asked.
"Look, there's something evil working us, and if we ever gonna have a chance to fight it, we need to learn everything we can about it. This thing has been closer to Spike than any of us."
"And if you want to understand it..." Anya promoted.
"I'm gonna have to get close to Spike."
"Nah, it's too dangerous." Xander shook his head.
"I don't have a choice. Whatever this thing is, from beneath us, it's bad, and it's only getting worse."
Dawn frowned, her eyes narrowed at her sister.
~.~.~.~
Buffy kneed in front of Spike who was sitting in a chair inside Buffy's room, tying his wrist to the chair. "We're gonna get to the bottom of this." Buffy sighed as she tightened the robe. "We just can't take any chances." She stood, and moved towards the other wrist and started tying it.
"Don't..." Buffy looked up, surprised. Spike frowned as he continued. "Make it tighter. The knots'll give. I get free, someone's gonna die."
Buffy frowned, hard.
~.~.~.~
Willow blinked when she felt sharp lights blinding her through her closed eyes. Slowly sitting up, the redhead found herself in the middle of the clearing, the fire that was burning around her had disappeared, leaving no trace of the spell she had done. "Tara?" She called, slowly standing up, looking around. "Tara?"
Receiving no response, Willow frowned, and picked up the small dragger she had used last night. The redhead frowned harder when she saw the dry blood on her waist. Grabbing a bottle of water from nearby, she pouted the water on it, surprised when she found no wound but only a thin scar. She shook her head, petting away the dirt on her back, before picking up her backpack and moved towards her car.
~.~.~.~
Buffy closed the door of her room quietly before looking up, and found her little sister standing there, her arms crossed over her chest. "I don't get it." She said. "So not only that you managed to get Willow moved out from the house, now you let crazy Spike stays here?"
"I've explained to you before." Buffy frowned. "If we want to understand it-"
"Yeah yeah yeah." Dawn waved her hand, dismissing her sister. "You gonna have to get close to Spike. Notice how you used 'I' instead of 'we'?"
"What are you talking about?" Buffy frowned harder. "That's-"
"Whatever." Dawn didn't even bother to wait for Buffy to finish the sentence. She picked up her bag, and moved down the stairs. "I'll tell Principle Wood you're not coming in today."
Buffy frowned, watching her sister left for school without another word.
~.~.~.~
Closing the front door, Willow turned, and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Tara standing right behind her. "Hey, you scared me." She smiled.
//Good scare or bad scare?//
"Good one." Willow's smile slowly disappeared. "I miss you, when I can't find you earlier."
//You found me now.//
Willow smiled sadly, her hand slowly reaching for Tara's cheek, but stopped before the two came into contact. "I want to touch you so badly that it hurts." She whispered. "It hurts so much..."
Tara smiled, and leaned in. To Willow surprise, she found herself touching something... something cold. The redhead blinked, her hand quickly retreated, before slowly reaching out again. "I... I..."
//Yeah. The spell works.//
"You're so cold." Willow whispered again, her hand covering Tara's cheek, tears roaming down freely from her eyes.
//I know.//
Paused.
//It's just a temperate spell though. Other people still-//
"I don't care about other people." Willow said. "I only care about you."
//I know.//
~.~.~.~
Inside the Principal Wood's office, two students were sitting on the chairs in front of his desk, while the principal sat behind it, talking. "Now, guys, look, we can settle this one of two ways. You can re-paint the walls, or I can suspend you and report this little incident on your permanent record."
"Fine." One of the students said causally. "Do that."
"Okay. I was bluffing. I hadn't really thought that one through. Listen," Principal Wood leaned forward, staring at the two students. "This whole permanent record thing is such a myth anyway. Colleges never ask for anything past your SAT scores, and it's not like employers are gonna be calling up to check to see how many days you missed back in high school. So, listen, I could suspend you," He said, slowly standing up from his chair. "But that would mean calling your parents, alerting your teachers, filling out paperwork, and, quite possibly, having to talk to the school board - all of which sounds positively exhausting to me." The principal sat on the edge of his desk. "No, I think it would be much easier if I just called the police, let them deal with it." The two students looked at each other. "Oh, and in case you are wondering, this is the part where I'm not bluffing."
The two students immediately looked back at the principal. "W-we'll re-paint it."
"Good job." The principal turned when he heard a knock on his door. "Excuse me." He moved towards the door and opened it. "Miss Summers." He smiled when he saw Dawn standing there. "I'm with students."
"I just wanted to tell you that Buffy won't be coming in today." Dawn said. "She's really sick."
Principal Wood frowned. "Oh no."
"Yeah. Last night she was vomiting, and then this morning she was vomiting some more, and then, just when we thought she was done, she was vomiting again."
"Yeah. We got that stomach flu going around."
"Her exact words were 'I've got stuff coming out of both ends.'"
The principal blinked. "Thank you. That's..." He paused. "Very helpful."
"Sure. No problem." Dawn smiled brightly. She looked over the principal's shoulder. "Hey guys. How's going?"
The students in the office blinked. "Pretty good." One of them said hesitantly.
"Tell your sister not to worry about it." Principal Wood said. "We'll soldier on without her here. Just, um, tell her to concentrate on getting better."
"Yeah, she'll be fine." Dawn's smile slowly disappeared. "She just needs to get some stuff out of her system." She paused. "I hope."
~.~.~.~
"Shouldn't have put an extension in here." Willow rumbled as she rolled over to the side of the master bed and reached for the phone that had been ringing whole morning. "Hello? Oh hey Buffy." She sat up from the bed. "Oh. Um... sure. Yeah. Bye." She put down the phone and stood.
//You're going, aren't you?//
"I have to." Willow said as she bended down and picked up the bra and undies she had dropped onto the floor earlier. "Something went down. She needs my help."
//Ever notice she only calls when she needs you to research?//
Willow frowned, but didn't reply. She put on her sweater and zipped her pants. "I'll be back in a few, okay?"
Tara merely watched her leave, but said nothing.
~.~.~.~
- LONDON, ENGLAND : PRESENT -
~.~.~.~
The door of the apartment swung opened, and Giles rushed into the flat. He stopped when he saw the young girl's body on the floor. "Oh dear God!" He checked on the girl's pulse, but found none. He stood, and started looking around. "Robson, are you here? Robson!"
Giles moved towards the other room, and found the man who was attacked earlier sitting on the floor against the couch, his eyes closed. "You too?" Giles dropped beside him, and took off his glasses, defeated. Suddenly, the man's eyes shot opened. "Dear God! I thought you-"
"Gather them." Robson whispered.
"What?"
"Gather them. It has started."
"It's all right. I understand." Giles said, not noticing a robed man was sneaking up from behind him with a battle axe. "I'll-"
The last thing Robson saw was an axe swinging towards Giles' head.
~.~.~.~
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