Series Title: Maltrovata al Chiar di Luna
Title: Part Three, Declinare Quella Vecchia Luna, This Old Moon Wanes
Author: Ananda
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: They're not mine.
Summary: Continues the series.
Time-line: Season 4
Dedication: To Aardvark for abandoning me without the rest of the story he's writing and going to Oregon for eight weeks. I need to know what's going to happen, damn it!
Note: More unconciouness, it's those bloody plot trolls again. Maybe if I try I can knock the entire cast out before I'm done.

Perfindo quando la scelta h concorde,
La guerra, la morte, la malattia assediano l'amore,
Lo rondono momentaneo come un suono,
Furtivo come un'ombra, fuggevole come un sogno,
Breve come un lampo che in una notte nera
Sveli, ad un tratto, cielo e terra,
Ma, prima che si possa dire "Guarda!",
Le mascelle del buio l'hanno divorato.
Cosl in un istante svanisce ogni cosa che brilla.

Lisandro, Sogno di una Notte di Mezz.Estate

Spike had been stuck in the cell, all alone, for the two days Buffy had left. It had been ok, for the first hour or so before he'd run out of things to do. He'd been pacing, round and round in pointless circles for hours. At least pacing gave him something to do. He didn't like being shut up. He was a master vampire, not a hamster, intelligent, energetic and getting angrier by the second, and besides he was missing Buffy.

She calmed him down whenever she was around, but she hadn't been around for two days. Since he didn't really want to admit how much he missed her, he was pacing.

Round and round.

Corner to corner.

Diagonal to diagonal.

Wall to wall.

Round and round.

Corner to corner.

Two bags of blood had been all the contact he'd received, and they weren't much for conversation. Right now he would even welcome another interrogation. Listening to an electronic voice droning on was not his idea of fun but it would keep his mind off the slayer for more than a few seconds.

He smiled slightly at the thought of her, before carefully allowing his cold, impassive mask to fall back again, he had a reputation to uphold after all. He couldn't help the instinctive smile though, she'd been so cute two days ago, tearstained and scared but still able to tear a strip off the commandos. He knew he should have been rejoicing in the frightened look her eyes had held but he hadn't. Instead he'd held her and reassured her and fallen even further than he'd thought possible, and for a moment he'd thought she felt the same way. That had been some moment. He smiled again, he just didn't seem to be able to stop.

He hoped she'd got out alright. She probably had. They.d have brought her back to him if she hadn't, but perhaps they.d decided divide and conquer was the way to go. She could be lying in some other cell, not one nearby or he would sense her, but she could be somewhere in the compound lying injured, or being tested by those bastard scientists that had defanged him. Or maybe she had got out and was trying for a way to get him out, or she'd decided she was better of without him and was off somewhere shagging that whelp, Riley. Or maybe she was dead in a ditch, or drained by a vampire while on patrol without him to protect her. Or maybe . . .

Spike shook his head, he needed to stop thinking about this before he went as loopy as Dru.

He shrugged and started to pace. He needed a book to read.

Riley nodded. "Interesting. Our researches have uncovered very little about this individual. He appears to be a warrior, chosen by destiny," Angleman smiled at this, "to fight hostiles, demons and 'the forces of darkness,' however this individual occasionally appears throughout time and has no identity. He is also referred to as The Chosen One in several prophecies."

Riley turned back to the screen and stared meditatively at Spike. He smiled viciously. "Perhaps he will know who the slayer is."

Angleman nodded. "It would be wise to ascertain this individual's identity, if he is nearby he could be a danger to the project."

This time the interrogation was up close and personal. A woman, tall and stately looking with light brown hair and hard eyes, wearing a white lab coat, who sat outside his cell.

"Your name is Spike?" She said.

Spike looked at her and nodded.

"And you are two hundred years old?" The woman found it hard to keep the awe out of her voice.

Spike nodded again before adding. "Two hundred and seven."

"You're British?"

"Born and bred."

The woman smiled thinly. "My name is Maggie Walsh. I am head of the Initiative."

"Isn't that nice." Spike commented sardonically.

"I will be asking you some questions. If you answer them you will be fed, if you don't answer you will die, slowly and painfully."

Spike sighed. "What do you want to know?" Spike smiled, intending to be as unhelpful as possible.

"I want to know about the slayer. What is he?"

Spike raised an eyebrow. 'He?' Then he thought carefully. If the Initiative knew Buffy was the slayer, they would try very hard to capture her, test her and find out what made her the slayer. This would not be a good thing.

"The slayer is a myth." He answered with finality.

"What?"

"A myth, used by master vampires to control their rebellious fledglings." He stared at her narrowly, he didn't think she was going to fall for this. But she did.

"The slayer doesn't exist?"

"Nope, nobody here but us chickens, pet. The slayer, whoever she was, hasn't been around for centuries."

Maggie Walsh smiled thinly, then frowned. 'She?'

Spike cringed internally. Damn. He stayed silent.

"The slayer was a woman?"

He smiled slightly. "A witch."

"Tell me about her."

Spike watched her, wondering just how much he could get away with. "Well, ducks. In the old days, the struggle between good and evil, demon kind and humanity was more bitter and open than it is now. Horse shoes over the door, a saucer of milk put out each night to ward off the elves, offerings to household Gods, all the things which have been forgotten or are ignored today were commonplace. Sometimes one side would seem to have the advantage, sometimes the other but neither ever won. Generations of fighters fought the creatures of darkness to a stand still time and again. Sometimes their ancient battle came to a peak. The evil grew so strong that it almost overcame the light, but there was always a fighter in the world, a warrior who sometimes seemed more than a man, who lead the light to win back ground and maintain the balance. The slayer was one like this."

"The slayer?"

"Once upon a time there was a very beautiful girl with hair like spun gold in the sunshine and eyes like emeralds. But this little girl wasn't destined to live in the sunshine. Instead, when she was fifteen years old she was chosen, from all her people, to hunt and slay vampires. She was known as the slayer, together with her watcher and her friends, a witch or two, a wolf, a soldier, a former demon and a spoiled 'princess,' she fought evil after evil and saved the world countless times. No one outside of their group knew her identity, she fought because she could not for the rewards. She was one of the strongest warriors the world had ever known but life was not easy for the little warrior. One night she met and fell in love with a tall dark stranger, but her stranger was a vampire, one with a soul."

Prof. Walsh gasped. "A soul?"

"Shush, don't interrupt the story." Spike scolded. "They loved each other truly, but the slayer was young and the vampire was old and their relationship was not easy. Then one stormy night, the night of the slayers seventeenth birthday they consummated their love. But the fates did not smile on the slayer and her lover and he lost his soul and once again he was the demon he had been."

"One of the most violent, sadistic master vampires ever to walk in the night. For more than a hundred years he offered an agonising death to every human he met, and to quite a few demons too. Most vampires enjoy the kill, the hunt, but this vampire was much worse. He was famous for playing mind games with his victims, killing every member of their family first, driving them insane. Enjoying every moment of their pain."
"The vampire hounded the slayer, striking out at her as the thing that had made him most human. He killed her friends, her watcher's woman, destroyed her relationship with her mother and stalked her like a cat stalking a mouse for months. He almost destroyed her. Then one night, so the story goes, he had a brilliant idea. He discovered that the stone body of a demon, which with one breath could swallow the world, was within his grasp, so he acquired it and set about destroying the world. To stop him from pulling the world into Hell, the slayer was forced into an alliance with her most hated enemy and forced to send her demon lover to Hell but before she could a well meaning witch took pity on the slayer and restored the soul of her love, hoping she was in time to stop him waking the demon. But it was too late and the slayer had to kill him."

Spike paused reliving the night he'd abandoned Buffy, and then she had abandoned herself.

"The slayer left her people, abandoned her duty, horrified by what she had had to do. But eventually she found herself again and returned to her fight. But still the fates had not finished their torture of the little warrior and her lover returned from Hell, soulful once again. They loved each other but one moment of true happiness would cause his soul to disappear so they could never be together. Eventually it became just too hard and the vampire left his slayer."

"You tell it as though you were there." Maggie Walsh said. Spike looked at her silently. "Were you?" She asked, "Are you the vampire with a soul?"

But Spike just stared at her, smiling. "Hell no, pet!"

"Does the slayer still exist? Could she be a threat to the Initiative?"

Spike thought carefully, he didn't want to reveal Buffy's identity if he could help it. Then he realised he was thinking like a human. He didn't have a conscious, he could just lie.

Buffy pulled herself into consciousness, escaping a blinding white world, a memory of the screams of demons and the kisses of a phantom lover. She awoke to find herself in Giles. bed, the sheets messy and twisted round her legs, her body covered in a light sheen of sweat. She couldn't remember exactly what she'd dreamed, only a fading memory of pain and loss and the sound of a vampire turning to dust and silver sand under her feet. She pulled herself out of bed and stumbled downstairs.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, it looked as if the entire world was camped out in Giles' living room researching. Xander and Cordelia sat, arms round each other, on the sofa reading Watcher diaries. Willow, assisted by Oz was at the computer and Giles was seated at his dining room table reading. Sitting next to him was.

"Angel?" Buffy gasped. He looked up, smiled at her and walked towards her.

"Buffy. You alright?" He asked concernedly, looking up at her with his patented dying duck in a thunderstorm expression.

Buffy stared down at him, "Angel," she started, "we need to..."

"Sit down." Said a voice from behind her. "I'll get you some tea." Buffy turned, "Wes? What are you doing here?"

Wesley smiled gently, "I.m assisting Angel and Doyle now." He gestured to a young, dark haired man seated near him. "This is Doyle."

Buffy smiled slightly, "Hi." Doyle nodded.

Giles got up and moved over to Buffy. "What happened?" He asked gently.

Buffy stared up into his gentle concerned eyes, "We were on patrol. Spike and I. I guess we weren't paying too much attention to what was going on around us. Suddenly these commandos showed up and knocked us out with something. When we woke up we were in the Initiative." She swallowed convulsively. "Giles, you have no idea what it was like. I've never seen anything so cruel. They tested me. I have puncture marks up my arms, they injected something in me. If it wasn't for Spike I'd be a basket case by now."

She sat down, unable to support herself any more and sipped blindly at the tea Wesley brought for her.

"They kept asking questions, who we were, who Spike's sire was. God knows what they're doing to him now." She sobbed. "We have to get him out."

Willow turned round. "I can try to get into the Initiative's computer system. That might give us an idea of where they.re holding Spike."

Xander nodded. "Right, I'll see what I can find in the basement we can use as a weapon. We can't attack the scary commando guys with stakes. They're human. More or less." He added uncertainly.

"Just a minute." Angel stood up. "Why are you suddenly rushing off to rescue Spike. He's a demon, without a soul. Don't you think getting rid of him is a good idea?"

Angel never saw the fist that sent him careering back into Giles bookcase. He fell heavily against it scattering rare and priceless books on the occult over the living room. The sound of Xander's applause filled the silence.

"Buffy" Giles half-heartedly objected.

Buffy advanced on Angel, shaking with anger. "Listen to me Angel. Spike is a member of our team. We. We don't leave our people in there!" She finished in a dramatic voice. Xander sniggered. "We used to rescue you, Angel." Buffy continued. "And you're a demon too."

"I have a soul." Angel objected. "Spike is a killer."

"So are you." Buffy hissed.

Angel recoiled. "You're in love with him," He said in a disgusted tone of voice.

Buffy cringed slightly and then glared at him. "What if I am?" She demanded. "You left me, Angel, you couldn't be bothered to fight for what we had so you left."

"I left you so you could have a normal life. Not so you could sleep with a soulless demon." He objected.

"A normal life?" Buffy scoffed. "Angel, I'm a slayer, and however long it's taken me to accept that I am, that is normality. Ambush techniques and beheading, not manicures and boys. Vampires are normality for me, and where the hell do you get off telling who I can and can't sleep with. There was a ringing silence. Buffy stood up and stared at the people surrounding her. She took a deep breath.

"I'm going on patrol," She announced calmly. "If I don't dust some soulless bloodsuckers I'm going to start dusting soulful ones in a minute."

Giles stood. "I'm coming with you. You're in no condition to go out alone and there are things to say."

Buffy nodded. "The rest of you get researching. I doubt Spike has long left." She turned and stormed out.

A day later Spike couldn't stand it anymore.

"Did she get out?" He demanded of Maggie Walsh. She turned towards him and smiled. The famous Spike mask had shown a crack at last. Now maybe she could get answers instead of riddles.

"What do you care?" She said.

Spike growled low in his throat. "I don't care." He said but inwardly he was smiling. She had got out, if she hadn't Walsh's reaction to his question would have been different. He remembered a remark Dru once made. 'Everything in my head is singing.' She would be back for him, he was sure. Fairly sure anyway, almost certain.

A day later she still hadn't come.

Buffy strode angrily through Restfield Cemetery followed, some distance behind, by Giles. The two vampires she'd met had barely lasted a minute.

"For God's sake," Giles wheezed. "Will you slow down!"

Buffy glanced over her shoulder and stopped. "Sorry," She apologised, "But he made me so mad!"

"I saw. I would like to discuss it though."

Buffy sighed tiredly, "I know we should but do we have to do it now?" She asked. She looked up at him and saw his expression. "Yes, I guess we do have to do it now." She walked over to a tomb stone and sat down. "You start." She said.

Giles smiled ruefully and sat down. "He doesn't have a soul Buffy." He said.

Buffy nodded, "I know, but Giles, he doesn't need one. He's more human than Angel could ever be even without a soul, and he doesn't brood."

Giles grinned as Buffy continued, "He was willing to make a truce with his enemy to save the world, he stayed with his loony girlfriend for ninety years, even when she was weak after Prague. He reads soppy books and his favourite film is something called Some Like it Hot, which admittedly I've never seen, but it sounds way too cuddly for a master vamp. When I freaked in the Initiative he calmed me down, he sacrificed himself so I could escape."

She paused. "And yes, the bloodsucking demon thing is definitely in the minus column but no man is ever perfect. And besides," she added gently, "I've made enough mistakes to know not to make another one. Spike can and might hurt me, but unlike Angel he won't hurt anyone else. He's not into mind games like Angelus was."

Giles sighed and then nodded, "Alright, I'll respect your ability to get yourself into and out of your own messes. You're not a child anymore, Buffy, and I don't have to remind you that the fate of the world rests on your shoulders, but I care about you a great deal, love you like the daughter I never had and I don't want to see you get hurt."

Buffy hugged him. "I don't think I will. Nothing has happened between Spike and me yet Giles, apart from one kiss in a grave yard and one or two in the Initiative. That's not enough to base a further of bliss on. You may all be freaking over nothing."

"Well," Giles said. "I doubt it, but do lets keep hope alive."

She smiled.

They resumed their patrol, working their way slowly through Restfield Cemetery towards the place where Buffy and Spike had been abducted.

Buffy looked around. "It was just about here, I think." She said.

Giles nodded, "Alright, they can't have carried you far, so the entrance must be around here somewhere. If we look for it that should be helpful for when we're ready to go back in to fetch Spike."

"Right," Buffy suppressed the urge to rip the Cemetery to shreds to get to Spike. It wouldn't help him if she lost it.

They searched for a few minutes, covering the area in ever increasing circles, making sure they missed nothing. Buffy found a stake she'd dropped and Giles a button which might have been torn off Spike's duster but no entrance to the Initiative. By early morning Giles was ready to call it quits.

"I don't think we're going to find anything Buffy. We should go back and see what the others have-damn." His voice faded away.

"What's wrong?" Buffy turned and stood up, only to be confronted by a black clad commando pointing a taser at her. "Oh, not again." She managed to say before the electricity ripped through her sending her into unconsciousness.

As soon as Angel and Doyle made it through the door Willow was on them. "Did you find them?" She demanded. Angel shook his head. Willow deflated. "Xander and Cordy and Wes and Oz said the same thing." She said sadly.

"There was no sign of them. I think they.ve been taken."

"By the Initiative?"

"It's the only explanation. Nothing supernatural would bother to kidnap a slayer and her watcher. It's more likely to be. . ." His voice trailed away.

"Crush, kill, destroy." Willow said in a small voice.

"Have you got into the Initiative's computer system yet?" Doyle asked. Willow nodded.

"I'm in, but the lists of vamps and demons they have don't mention names or descriptions. I'll have to go through each personal file to find Spike and that could take some time."

Angel nodded, "You have a day. We have to rescue them at night, or Spike and I won't be able to leave. If we go in at sunset that should give us enough time to find them and get out. We find Buffy and Giles first and then Spike."

Cordelia looked up from her seat on the sofa, "Er...Angel." She said, "Go in where? We don't know where the entrance is."

Angel smiled, "Yes we do. It has to be in Restfield cemetery, that's where Buffy was taken both times. A locator spell should find it. It'll work over an area that small won't it." He looked at Willow. "Are you up to it?"

"Yeah. It'll be draining, no floating pencils for a week or to but."

Spike woke from a fitful sleep to find two more bodies in the cell with him. At first he thought they were strangers then he recognised Buffy's blonde hair and Giles. tweed. He couldn't believe it. "I take all those risks, a double helping of the bloody electricity all to get her out and the stupid chit can't even be bothered to stay safe."

"Bloody wonderful," He groaned.

Buffy groaned and scrunched up into a ball. "One more of those damn electric shocks and my hair will never recover. Wonder where I am this time?" She opened her eyes to find Spike staring at her, one eyebrow raised in sardonic question.

"Hey." She said quietly. "Miss me?"

"Not for long enough, no."

She pouted and looked down. He sighed. "What happened?"

"You know this time it wasn't my fault." She began in explanation when the heap that was Giles groaned and sat up slowly.

"My head." He moaned "Feels like someone hit it with a sledge hammer." He looked up. "Hello," He said, "Where are we?"

"I'll give you one guess," Buffy said sarcastically.

"Oh."

"Exactly mate."

Buffy pulled herself to her feet while Spike helped Giles up. Giles stood for a moment to get his bearings then hauled off and hit Spike as hard as he could.

"Ow!" Spike shouted from his new position on the floor. "What the bleeding hell was that for?"

"For ever touching Buffy in the first place." Giles coughed, adjusted his tweed and helped Spike up off the floor. "Right, now that's all sorted out, how do we get out of here?"

Buffy turned to a shocked Spike and put up one and to caress his cheek gently, "You ok?" He shrugged, "Didn't hurt that much." He said.

"That's not what I meant."

Spike shrugged and shuffled. "I'm hungry as hell, worried about you and fucking pissed off. I want to cut a bloody swathe through these damn commandos, go home, feed on every pack of blood in the fridge, and then make love to you until dawn. But right now I'll settle for a kiss." He smiled at her. Buffy froze, eyes wide, staring up at him. "You ok, luv?"

She smiled. "Fine, except for being stuck here again."

Suddenly a voice from behind them spoke. "It's nice to have you back with us Miss Summers." Said Professor Walsh. "We missed you."

Buffy stared at her incredulously. "Professor Walsh? Why.? How? What's going on?"

Professor Walsh smiled. "I am head of the Initiative, and you are our guests. Spike has been telling us all about the slayer." She added brightly.

Buffy turned on Spike. "You told her?" She demanded oblivious to Professor Walsh. "About the slayer, about me!"

Spike shook his head, "No, I-"

"I can't believe you told her," Buffy said incredulously. "I thought you cared about me, instead you betray me."

"Buffy, no. I didn't." Spike grabbed her by the shoulders but Buffy shook him off angrily.

"Don't speak to me." She growled.

"Well, wasn't that interesting." Professor Walsh laughed, "You're the slayer." She pointed at Buffy. "Perhaps you could explain just what that means." She suggested.

Buffy glared at her, "It means I kill vampires." She answered and launched herself at Spike.

Spike staggered back and landed against the back wall of the cell, as Giles grabbed Buffy from behind.

"Buffy, no!" He shouted, struggling with his furious slayer.

"I never betrayed you, slayer."

"What do you call selling me out to the Initiative?" She demanded sarcastically. "What, you did it for my own good?"

"I didn't."

"Spike, you are a self serving manipulative blood sucking demon, and if you speak to me again, I'll stake you."

Spike stared up at her. "Slayer."

"I mean it. Spike. Don't talk to me." She turned away from him, tears pricking her eyes. "How could you do it to me? How could you betray me?"

"Buffy, please listen to me." Spike pleaded.

"Shut up! Just shut up." Buffy sagged as the anger left her. "Just leave me alone," She whispered.

Somewhere above them Giles. house stood in silence, a faint blue glow emanating from the living room window, as the swirling clouds of smoke rushed out of the chimney and covered the cemetery in a faint silvery outline. Within the cemetery near the Doom family crypt the vague outlines of Buffy and Giles stood out from the grey stone. The casters watched as the fainter green outlines of the members of the Initiative approached Buffy and Giles from behind, the bolt of electricity from the tasers standing out blood read in the dark misty atmosphere. The watchers saw Buffy and Giles picked up and dragged off to the waiting car. The smoky eyes followed as the green outlines of the commandos drove towards the university and reached the entrance to the Initiative.

"Got them!" Willow exclaimed.

Or if there were a sympathy in choice,
War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,
Making it momentany as a sound,
Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightening in the collied night,
That in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth,
And 'ere a man hath power to say "Behold!"
The jaws of darkness to devour it up.
So quick bright things come to confusion.

Lisander, A Midsummer Night's Dream

The next part 'Durer` Fino alla Morte,' Death Shall Never End coming soon!