UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD

CHAPTER ONE:

“Spike!”

Buffy looked up at her sister's cry just in time to see something black fall past her at what appeared to be terminal velocity. The dark, fast-moving meteor impacted the ground below with a sickening and bone shattering crunch which unsettled Buffy's stomach. But the Slayer couldn't focus on that now, she could only watch it fly past her and push her horror down. Her only priority was her sister; Dawn was in trouble, she had to get to Dawn. She had to get to Dawn and stop the ritual. Buffy kept running up the rickety, wobbling stairs at a frantic pace. It seemed to take an eternity, but she finally reached the top of the unstable, windswept tower. Looking around, fists raised and ready to strike, Buffy found herself face-to-face with Dawn, who was alone and apparently unharmed.

Dawn's eyes were wild when they met her sister's. Her words came out in a rush, her voice shrill, terrified and breathless. “Buffy! I’m OK, he did it!! Spike did it!! There was a demon, some old guy who was gonna cut me, but Spike stopped him. They fought, and Spike threw him off, but the guy caught his wrist and pulled him off too and-”

That was as far as Dawn got in her explanation of what happened. In that instant Buffy had enfolded her in an ardent hug, and nearly squeezed all the breath out of the already breathless younger Summers girl.

“Buffy...need...to...breathe.”

Buffy relaxed her hold on her sister and gave her a watery smile. “Sorry, but for a minute there I thought...”

“I know, but I’m OK. Now, do you think you could get me off this thing, I’m not really liking it up here.”

Buffy reached for the knife she kept in her boot and cut the ties holding Dawn prisoner. With Buffy holding onto Dawns arm tightly, they made their way down the tower at a careful and cautious pace. About half-way down the creaking, listing tower Buffy heard footsteps on the stairs below them. Fast, heavy footsteps, coming up toward them. Buffy's relief suddenly morphed back into fear and panic, her heart lurching in her chest.

“Dawnie, stay behind me.” The Slayer pressed Dawn back, and then jumped down several steps to meet the oncoming foe alone. She automatically assumed a fighting stance when her feet touched down on the next landing, poised and ready to strike.

At least until she saw her 'opponent.'

An out-of-breath Giles came puffing into view. He stopped, nearly collapsing from relief and exhaustion, when greeted by the sight of the sisters on the stairs in front of him.

“Hey, Giles, Dawn's OK. You could've saved yourself the heart attack by running up here.”

“No..no...I'm...fine...I...just...need to....die...for...a...moment.”

Dawn was snickering at the watcher's condition and comments as she descended the steps behind Buffy. At least she was until a sudden, horrifying thought struck her.

“Spike! Oh, God, Buffy I have to find him!!” Dawn exclaimed as she pushed past the pair of them and continued down the stairs. “He's got to be hurt after that fall.”

Buffy rushed past Giles to keep up with Dawn, who was moving down the stairs with determination.

Giles's brow furrowed. “Spike? Buffy, what happened up there?” Giles's breath had returned and he was able able to keep pace with the pair as they descended, led by Dawn with himself now bringing up the rear.

“Turns out Spike saved Dawn, and the world in the process,” she replied with a little humour in her tone at the astonished look on Giles's face.

“Are you sure, Buffy? I mean, this is Spike we're talking abou-” Giles stopped abruptly when he suddenly came face-to-face with a very angry-looking Dawn, who had obviously overheard his comments.

“YOU weren't up there Giles! Neither was Buffy!” Dawn paused at this and gave her sister a quick, smiling glance over her shoulder. She reached for Buffy's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. The younger Summers girl hoped it communicated that she understood Buffy had gotten there as soon as she could.

Buffy gave Dawn a grateful smile and a small nod, silently accepting her sister's support.Dawn turned her angry glare back to the stunned watcher.

“It wasn't you or Buffy or Xander or Willow or anyone else who saved me up there it was Spike!! And he got hurt in the process, so I’m going to find him and help him.

“Instead of standing there bad mouthing him, why don't you do something useful, like round every one up so we can go home!

“And enough with the rude comments!! I get it OK! You don't like Spike! I’m not asking you to, but can't you at least be civil to him? I mean, how much of a sacrifice would it be? Given the choice, I can't see Spike wanting to talk to you anyway, not after the way you've treated him!”

Buffy's stomach gave a lurch as Dawn whirled away from the watcher and continued down the stairs to look for her vampire friend. It wasn't just Giles that had treated Spike horribly. Buffy had to admit that she herself fell into that category alongside her watcher and Xander.

'Will he forgive me? Should he forgive me? Do I want him to forgive me?' All those thoughts rattled round Buffy's head as she followed her sister, finally reaching ground level and nearly running into her back.

Dawn stood looking straight up at the tower as if trying to work out Spike's positioning when he fell, and therefore deduce where he would have been when he landed.

“You try that way,” Dawn instructed Buffy, her voice firm, brooking no argument, “I'll try this way.” With that she was off, looking for her friend as Buffy gave a small sigh and began walking in her designated direction.

Buffy had barely gotten thirty feet when a shout came from Dawn's direction. “Buffy!” The shout was panicked so Buffy ran, thinking obviously Dawn had found Spike and it wasn't good. Even with that thought, Buffy wasn't prepared for the carnage that met her as she came around a concrete pillar.

Spike lay face down in a quite sizeable impact crater surrounded by broken brick, twisted metal and shattered concrete.

Buffy ran to her sister and put an arm round her shoulders. “He'll be OK. As long as he's not dust, he'll be OK.”

Buffy knelt down and slowly rolled Spike over, but what greeted her almost made her gag as bile rose to the back of her throat. It seemed that Doc, the demon Spike had been fighting, had taken the brunt of the impact. The demon's body and head were considerably thinner than they should have been. It looked as though, under compression, Doc's head had split across the crown and his brains had been forced out in a streak of sticky, blue ooze. It was not a pleasant sight, but then neither was Spike.

Buffy looked him over with a critical eye, trying to gauge and catalogue his injuries.

As the vampire landed, it appeared that his right side had impacted first, as this was where the most damage was. The right side of his head had a large gash in it, the white of his skull clearly visible through the blood, his right cheekbone looked broken, and his right collar bone was poking through the skin, obviously fractured. Looking down further, it was clear that his right shoulder was dislocated and his right elbow was at an angle that wasn't correct. From under his t-shirt, that had ridden up slightly, Buffy could see wicked amounts of bruising already, indicating possible internal damage and also the probability of broken or shattered ribs. His hips were at an angle that suggested he'd perhaps broken his pelvis, and his right leg was clearly dislocated at the hip and broken at the knee. In short...not good.

“Oh, goddess.”

Buffy turned at the breathy whisper to see Willow and Tara. Tara was holding Dawn to her in a comforting hug while Willow gazed down at Spike with concern as she walked towards Buffy.

Willow laid a hand on the Slayer's shoulder, kneeling beside her. “He'll be OK, right?” she asked tentatively, before looking at Dawn and Tara. “I mean: He'll be OK,” she added more forcefully, trying to dispel Dawn's concerns.

A small scoff signaled Xander's arrival. “What's the big deal? So the bleached wonder got a little bruised, let's dump him at his crypt and celebra-”

SMACK.

Buffy turned just in time to see Xander complete his fall to the ground, clutching his cheek. Next to him, Dawn was hopping on the spot, rubbing the knuckles of her right hand.

“What the hell was that for!?” Xander protested. “All I said was...”

“I heard what you said, you jerk! So help me, if you say it again I promise you will never have children by the time I’m done, you...you...uugghh!”

Dawn turned and looked at her sister with hard eyes. In a deadly calm and clear voice she said “I'm taking Spike home and I don't want him there.” Dawn gestured to Xander without looking at him. “I mean it, Buffy. Xander doesn't come into the house while Spike is there or I swear I’ll hit him again.

“And if you...” Dawn continued, turning her head toward the dismayed watcher, who had been attracted by Dawn's initial shout to Buffy, “...can't keep your comments to yourself in front of me, then you can join Xander on the unwanted list. Am I clear?”

At Giles's hasty agreement the angry, young girl turned a disgusted look to Xander who was still sprawled out on the ground looking confused and shocked. “You obviously don't get it, but I’m so angry at the moment that I don't think I could explain it to you without losing my temper again, so talk to Giles once we've gone.”

With that she turned her back on Xander, Anya, who had remained quiet throughout the exchange, and Giles. Calming slightly, Dawn spoke only to Buffy and the pair of witches. “You guys gonna help me with Spike?”

Nods and tentative smiles of agreement from the three other women assured Dawn that Spike would be taken care of.