Summary: A broken Slayer befriends Clem as she starts spending more and more time at Spike’s crypt after the bleach blonde flees to Africa. Then Spike returns with dire news and the Slayer’s world is turned upside down once more.

Spoilers: Set post “Grave”

Rating: PG-13

Author’s Notes: None

Distribution: If ya want it, take it, just give me credit… And, if ya could, let me know where it’s going.

Feedback: You can send it to brock3005@aol.com or otownfan1520@yahoo.com.

~*~*~*~

Running a hand through her hair, Buffy sighed. This just wasn’t getting any easier. “Yes. Spike has a soul.” She said it slowly; her tone reflecting her annoyance. The soul wasn’t really the issue… Well, okay, so it kinda was considering it had awakened the evil they were gonna be dealing with, but there wasn’t time to go over it with each person separately. “Could we maybe take care of this with everyone else so we can get down to business? I didn’t call everyone here at 4:30 in the morning to discuss Spike’s soul… Or, well, I kinda did, but there’s quite a bit more to it than that.”

“Yes, of course…” Giles replied, his eyes reflecting confusion as he stepped aside to allow Buffy and Xander to pass.

In the other room, Dawn was sitting at the table with Spike, talking excitedly. His smile was wide as he listened to her babble on about everything that had happened since he’d been gone. It was obvious he was trying his best to keep from laughing as the younger Summers talked his ear off… Until she mentioned the new boyfriend… When Buffy saw him, she could’ve sworn his face drained of color that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Suddenly his expression changed to that of an overprotective father.

“Boyfriend?”

“It’s okay…” Buffy called, laughing as she approached them. “He’s human. I promise. And he’s a pretty nice guy. You’d like him… All gentlemanly and such.”

He shot her a look and she giggled as she sat beside him. Then he turned back to Dawn. “Once we’ve stopped the impending doom of Sunnydale and all who inhabit it, you and me are gonna have a little talk.”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say… dad.”

“Damn right.” Buffy laughed and Dawn swatted his shoulder playfully, both amused by the display.

“So, end of the world… Sounds important.” Xander was obviously annoyed by the happy, family-like banter going on between the two Summers girls and the all too soulful vampire. Spike didn’t really seem to be acting all that different… But it was still creepy. Before now, the word Spike and soul had never coincided in the same sentence… Or even the same context for that matter. Then again, it seemed to be making Buffy happy; having him back and all. So he really couldn’t complain. He hadn’t seen her smile since Spike had left. Maybe his having a soul could be good for her… Even if his previous arguments were still in need of further examination.

“Oh, yeah… Almost forgot.” Buffy said, almost dismissively. “Okay, I think it was something like powerful magicks used to restore Spike’s soul awakened an evil force in Africa that can’t really be stopped…” She turned to Spike questioningly. “That about right?”

“For the most part…” Spike replied before proceeding to fill them in.

“Wait, you’ve got a soul?” Dawn questioned when Spike had finished explaining the situation.

Buffy sighed exasperatedly, hanging her head in her hands. It seemed no one was understanding the whole end of the world prospect. They seemed to be much more interested in Spike’s soul… Though, then again, she could kinda understand why. They’d dealt with the end of the world at least six or seven times… Spike’s coming home with a soul had only happened once in recent memory, whereas there had been an apocalypse not six months ago. “Look, could we please not get hung up on Spike’s soul again. Not that it’s not wonderful and amazing and every other word you can think of to describe good, but there’re really more important issues in the midst of all this.”

“Buffy’s right…” Xander agreed, though he was still slightly confused by the situation, as were the rest of them. “So is this like an end of the world thing?”

“Not so much the end of the world… More like the complete and total destruction of the human race…” Spike explained, his tone almost casual.

“And with that knowledge… Spike’s soul is good how?” Xander wasn’t exactly liking the sound of things. This was very, very bad… And they were all still recovering from the near apocalypse Willow had caused. Not to mention the fact that the whole magick solution was kinda off limits to them… That just made it worse. How could they fight this thing without magick? “So Giles…” Xander began conversationally. “Any ideas on how to stop this thing?”

“Or have you at least heard of it?” Buffy questioned. “’Cause we were kinda hoping you had…”

“I can’t say that I have… You said that this evil is believed to be the essence of Lucifer himself?”

“It’s what a lot of ‘em told me. Don’t know how much of it’s actually rooted in fact, though… Seems everybody I ran into had a different story. That was probably the most common, out of all of ‘em.” Spike replied. He’d hoped Giles had at least heard something of this before, as had Buffy. It may not have given them any direct answers, but at least it would’ve been a place to start. As it was, they had absolutely nothing to go on.

“It is…” They all turned to Anya, who was standing by the cash register going through the books once again. She looked up, to see all eyes on her. “What?” she questioned, not quite sure why they looked so surprised. I was a vengeance demon for eleven hundred years. I’ve heard a thing or two about almost everything out there. There’s a lot I could tell you about…”

“Anya, not really the time for stories.” Buffy reminded, still waiting for answers about the mysterious evil they were going to be fighting. “What’s up with thing exactly?”

“It is the essence of Lucifer himself. See, it’s kind of like The Judge… Ya know, with the whole destroying of humanity thing… Only this thing does it slowly. It attacks the subconscious. It usually happens when you’re asleep, but it can happen when you’re just dazed out. Your mind kinda has to be detached from your when it passes through you. And when it does, it doesn’t technically kill you. It makes you crazy… Paranoid. It just keeps getting worse and worse until you’re finally so far gone that the paranoia takes over and you attack anything even remotely human that crosses your path.”

“And, though this is certainly helping with the explanation, how the hell do we stop it?” Buffy questioned, looking expectantly at Anya.

“Why’re you all looking at me?” Anya asked. “I don’t know everything about it. All I know is what I just told you and what Spike just said about all the magick and stuff…”

For awhile, there was dead silence in the room. No one was sure what to make of the situation. If magick was the only way to destroy it, then there was really nothing to be done.

After a moment, Xander spoke up. “Wait, if all it takes is white magick, then isn’t there somebody we could call? I mean, I know Will’s not doing the stuff anymore, but she’s gotta know someone who could…”

Spike cut him off, shaking his head dismissively. He was getting a bit frustrated with the boy… Or maybe it was just the whole impending death thing. Either way, he was aggravated and he needed to take it out on someone… And Xander seemed the most worthy contestant at the moment. “That won’t work… It’s not that easy.”

“Who the hell asked you?!” Xander turned on him; once again angry with the vampire.

“You can’t drag in just anybody!” Spike countered. “For this we need pure magicks… That’s not something you find in every Wicca! White magick has to run in the bloodline, Harris! That’s the only way to pass it on! And even if we could find someone who has that kind of power, they’ve gotta have experience! Not everyone with the gift practices it… In fact, most don’t. We don’t have time to go searching the world over for a powerful Wicca with the gift of white magicks! We’ve got to find a way to fix this… Now.”

“Yeah?! And how exactly do you propose we do that?!”

Xander looked as though he were ready to strangle the vampire, however ineffective it may have been, and Buffy felt the need to jump in before they ripped one another’s throats out. “Research?” she suggested cheekily.