By Erin_Cale
Disclaimer: BtVS isn't mine. This is just yet another idea of mine how the BtVS universe would turn out after "Chosen".
With an eye towards Earth and an ear towards Heaven, the figure bent low to better observe the events taking place below. After a moment, he decided to take his observations down to ground level. After all this time, he wanted to be there when she woke up.
***
At 32, Buffy was the oldest Slayer to date. The Watchers’ Council, what few of them were left, made an annual trip to Cleveland in order to test her and see first hand what happened to a Slayer as she got older. So far, she had surpassed each test, besting even her own previous results. However, of all the Watchers, only Wesley could see what each year cost her.
When she had been younger, the tests hadn’t even left her winded. This year, she had barely been able to gulp enough air into her heaving lungs to keep from passing out. Afterward, Wesley had guided her outside and onto a bench where she could catch her breath.
“Do you need anything?” he had asked apprehensively.
“I’m not… going to last… Wes.” Choked out between gasps, her voice made it sound like her vocal chords had been attacked with sand paper.
“Preposterous.” He didn’t even have the heart to emphasize the word because even he could see the truth in the shaking of the woman before him. Instead, he paused a moment, then asked, “What happened, Buffy?”
The silence was so definite that he could almost hear the neurons firing in her mind as she considered her answer. A minute passed, then another. A few more minutes, then finally, “I’ve given up. I never expected to live this long; I didn’t make any plans to celebrate my 25th birthday, let alone my 32nd. Every moment I live seems wrong, somehow, like I wasn’t meant to-” Tears closed her throat, efficiently ending her sentence. She didn’t need to continue anyway. Wes knew as much about her problems as anyone currently did.
Xander, still unused to only having one eye even after a year, hadn’t seen the car entering his lane until it was too late. Giles, earlier that fall, had felt a pain in his chest, but ignored it. Willow- Wes was trying to find a way to tell Buffy- had just died from cancer in a hospital on the East Coast and Kennedy was very nearly insane with grief. Dawn, of all of them, was safe, in good-health and relatively happy in her role as wife and mother with her family in Australia. Buffy had only seen her a grand total of 2 weeks in the past 5 years.
What Wes didn’t know, and what Buffy wasn’t exactly inclined to tell him, was that she had really given up before that. Her dreams of a happy life had been utterly eradicated with the opening of- what the Scoobies had termed- the “Sunny-hole” and the death of her second vampire lover.
Her breath regained, Buffy smiled at Wes reassuringly as she stood. “Listen. I’m going to go check out some daytime demon haunts-”
“Be safe, Buffy.”
She nodded but promised nothing. Not that it mattered anymore. Her heart was dead, her soul was dying. That was why, she knew, she was slowly losing all her powers. Not because she was too old, not because she was dying, but because she was already dead.
The wanderer traveled a great distance away from those who would bother her. However, the sun continued its lazy spiral overhead for another two hours before she finally found an abandoned house with a vamp nest inside.
Immediately by the door, Buffy found the one who was probably supposed to be standing guard against people like her. However, he was asleep and proved far too easy a kill. For a little adventure, she tossed a suitably large pebble onto the face of the next one, hoping for a one-on-one battle. A terrible shriek, no doubt meant to wake the other vampires, issued from its long-dead throat as it flipped to its feet.
This was the one she had to worry about. She knew it as surely as she had that night she had first seen Spike. This vampire was the sire of all the others and, judging by the competence of her minions, she had to be a very skilled master.
There was no escape. The minions had snuck behind her to cover the door she had entered through, as well as every other possible exit. Buffy tightened the grip she held on her stakes as they advanced but a loud growl interrupted the fledglings before they could move.
For a moment, the growl reminded her of Spike. She could even see the dim light bouncing off of his bleached hair as he crouched in a corner and watched her. Then, she blinked and all that was left was the master vampire’s leering face.
A whisper in the gloom: “This one’s mine.”
The first kick came without warning but Buffy was ready. She shied away, using her momentum to carry her into a back flip and land perfectly on her feet. When she regained her fighting stance, the minions observed with excitement that one of her hands was very noticeably empty. One vampire nipped at her heel, teeth barely grazing the flesh, but Buffy didn’t notice. Her attention was all for the vampire who was waiting for her to retaliate.
Buffy’s punch came hard and fast, but even as it made contact, the vampire’s fist hit her soundly in the head. Dazed, she dropped her other stake. It hit the ground with a sullen thud and lay there for a moment before the master vampire retrieved it.
“Say bye, Slayer.”
Buffy’s blurry vision only vaguely registered the vampiress coming toward her. In fact, she only acknowledged that her death was near when she felt a chin rest lightly on her neck for a moment. When she felt the vampire’s arms encircling her, when the chin lifted away and she felt the sharp points against her flesh, she decided to welcome the black-robed figure with his scythe.
Sharp pain and the strange sensation of her life being drained away. It wasn’t anything like when she had died in the portal. That had been pain the likes of such she’d never known. No, this was much more gradual. She wanted to urge the vampire to drink faster, but her last words didn’t come out exactly as she’d intended.
“Spike…”
***
She blinked lazily, enjoying for the first time in a long time the simple pleasure of sunlight on her face. With a small smile, she turned over-
and promptly rolled onto a cold body. It groaned loudly. Her smile now gone, she threw aside the covers of her bed with a shaking hand.
“Pet,” the body whined, “Why are you waking me up? It’s still daylight out.”
A whisper, her tiny voice seemed afraid to break this spell. “Spike?”
She squealed then, launching herself into his arms. “Missed you. Love you so much.”
The blonde vampire, now fully awake, chuckled at the armful of Slayer. “Missed me, love? How could you miss me? I’ve been right beside you the entire time.”
“Just missed you,” she repeated into his chest. “I love you so much.”
Another quiet chuckle. “I love you too, Buffy.” Sniffing the air quickly, he added, “Well, since I’m up, let’s say you and I go get some breakfast.”
She nodded, not even letting go of him when he got up off the bed. Arms around each other, they made their way downstairs and into the kitchen, where Willow was making eggs and Xander sat at the island in the middle.
“Mornin’ sleepyheads.” Willow shot them a quick smile.
“Morning Buffy, morning Captain Peroxide,” Xander added.
“Morning, Red, whelp,” Spike replied. “What’s for breakfast?”
Willow’s smile got bigger but she didn’t look away from her task. “Eggs, bacon and toast, with your choice of beverage. And the eggs should be done right… about…” she slid the eggs onto a big platter, “now.”
Spike dropped his arms from Buffy just long enough to steal the platter from Willow. “Let’s eat!”
The response came from both the Slayer and the witch, with an exasperated “Spike!”
“Hey, for once I agree with the evil undead, here,” Xander interjected.
“That’s a first,” Buffy muttered, reaching for the bacon.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
The four sat down to their breakfast.
***
Buffy’s corpse dropped to the ground. The sound of raucous, almost inebriated, laughter completely covered the sound her body made on impact.
***
“Oh, Buffy?” Willow interrupted. “I almost forgot to tell you. Your mom said she’d be back in an hour with Giles and Tara’s going to be coming over right after her last class.”
Buffy gave her a wide grin. “I can’t wait.”
Written while listening to:
"Taking Over Me" by Evanescence
you don't remember me but i remember you
i lie awake and try so hard not to think of you
but who can decide what they dream?
and dream i do...
i believe in you
i'll give up everything just to find you
i have to be with you to live to breathe
you're taking over me
have you forgotten all i know
and all we had?
you saw me mourning my love for you
and touched my hand
i knew you loved me then
i believe in you
i'll give up everything just to find you
i have to be with you to live to breathe
you're taking over me
i look in the mirror and see your face
if i look deep enough
so many things inside that are just like you are taking over
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