Aberjian II
Angel let the chalice fall from his fingers. It hit the stone floor with a resounding clang. Angel cocked his head to the side, looking down at Buffy who was still on top of Spike. The stuff, which certainly wasn’t Mountain Dew, burned incredibly on its way down. Angel guessed that was the meaning of Perpetual Torment, but somehow he had expected something different. The physical sensation, however, was overridden by the pang of pleasure he felt at having beaten Spike to the drink; having proven to everyone, to himself, that he was the Champion. Something he had always had in his heart, like a cankerous sore, untouchable because it was a question that was unanswerable. Until now.
Buffy slowly got up, leaving Spike where he lay. She carefully approached the dark haired vampire. “Angel-” she whispered, reaching a hand out.
Angel was touched. If she knew anything about the shanshu prophecy, or the Cup from which he had drunk, she was concerned about the Perpetual Torment part. He started to reach out his own hand to her, making a move to step forward, but she tensed and moved back. He frowned and his acute sense of smell made him look down.
His chest was burning. Not the burning sensation he felt in his stomach as the Cup’s contents did their work, but the burning of his dead flesh as the fluid he had imbibed soaked into his system and fulfilled the prophecy. Angel looked back up to Buffy, fear in his eyes, a trace of betrayal. Had she known? Had that been why she had saved Spike? His eyes fell to Spike who was still unsure what was going on, but was beginning to find a sadistic grin spreading across his face.
Angel fell to his knees. Buffy wanted to hold him, to support him, as did Willow, but his clothes were now on fire, tongues of flame leaping up into the already foul smelling air. Spike remained still as Buffy in a panic removed her coat and began to beat at him, trying to quench the flames. It was obviously no use. As tears began to crawl down Buffy’s face, Angel looked one last time into her misty eyes and fell forward, his flesh consumed. The instant he hit the floor of the cave, his body covering the Cup, he disintegrated into dust, his bones were solid for an instant longer, then they too became ash.
Buffy dropped her coat in shock, falling, herself, to her knees. The coat kicked up a small plume of ash, which smelled vile and soon settled back to the floor. The green flare, now forgotten on the floor, hissed loudly as it was smothered in the damp grime and dried dust. With a muzzled whump, it went out, leaving them in blackness.
It was several minutes of quiet shock and near tears before Buffy felt Willow’s arm around her shoulder. Willow’s hand retrieved another flare and with a crack, the tunnel was lit anew.
In the harsh green light, Spike was standing in the pile of ashes that had once been his ally, his enemy, his friend and his rival. In his hand, Spike held the Cup, now dry, filled nearly a third with the grey ashes which fluttered about his ankles.
Spike looked down at Buffy’s tear stained face, the pain she felt at losing her first love evident, evoking a muddle of emotions in the blonde vampire. Envy, pity, shared grief, but the strongest was the jealousy. When Spike had been burning; when she had clasped his hand in hers as he burned in the daylight to destroy the armies of the First Evil at the destruction of Sunnydale, she had told him she loved him. It had been a lie. It was still a lie. Everything they had now was a cheap replica of what she had had with Angel years ago. He had accepted it because it was better than not having her at all. His need for her was real.
Without a second glance, as her eyes fell to the floor, Spike tipped up the rim of the Cup and emptied the bitter contents into his mouth. The ash turned to slime in his mouth. He swallowed it, nearly gagging.
Willow looked at him with disgust, holding Buffy closer as they huddled on the floor of the cave. Spike coughed once, then dropped the Cup as Angel had, clapping his hands together to rid them of the foul tasting dust, then he stalked off into the darkness.
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