Or, "Fool for Love" Revisited
By Jonquil
(To the tune of Stephen Sondheim's "Every Day A Little Death", from A Little Night Music.)
[BUFFY stands outside SPIKE's crypt, dejected and moving very cautiously. You can tell it's been a brutal night.]
BUFFY: Every night a little death,
In the school and in the street
In my evenings and my dawns
And in my every small defeat.
Every night a little shame,
Every night a new deceit.
Never time to pause for breath
And I know that I'm to blame
For each supernatural death.
[SPIKE appears at the door, cigarette in hand, and leans against the right wall.]
SPIKE: You are whining, Slayer pet,
And it's tedious.
BUFFY: Leave my sight now, Spike,
I don't have time for you. [Waves him off, then winces.]
SPIKE [delighted]: What's the problem, Slayer sweet,
Met a foe you can't defeat?
Well, score one big goal for our side!
Evil rules!
[She stares at him in loathing, then is struck by a thought.]
BUFFY: You say you've killed Slayers twice,
What's your secret, then?
SPIKE [shrugs]: Just a spot of dancing,
Then I thrust them through. [pelvic gesture]
BUFFY: You're disgusting, that's obscene.
SPIKE [disdainful]: Don't be daft, it's bloody keen.
[advances, holds a hand out] Oh, come on, you know you love it!
BUFFY [recoils]: That's not true!
[They look past each other, out into the audience, each in a private world. At the beginning of the verse, Buffy is agonized, Spike chipper; they slowly converge, both physically and in mood.]
BUFFY: Every night a little death
SPIKE: Every night a little death
BUFFY: In the school and in the street.
SPIKE: In the mouth they're all the same.
BUFFY: In my evenings and my dawns
And in my dreams and in my soul...
SPIKE: In the ultimate heartbeat
In the playing of the game...
BUFFY [ignoring him] Every night a little loss
Every night a little shame.
SPIKE: And that final struggle's sweet...
BUFFY: And I know that I'm to blame.
SPIKE: And the agonized last breath...
BOTH [serious]: Wond'ring if you'll win the toss
Or you'll finally lose to Death...