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And With This Power

Chapter Seven: A Roman Hick

Buffy stood with her arms crossed and an angry expression on her face as she stood in the basement with Andrew in Jonathon.

“So,” Buffy started, venom already in her voice. “You decided to go upstairs and talk to Willow about her control…and then you come down to my basement and summon a demon?” She was talking calmly, but you could feel the anger in her tone.

Jonathon and Andrew just nodded. This infuriated Buffy and she finally lost her own control.

“Learn your own damn control, guys!” She yelled. “What the hell were you thinking!? This is my life you’re messing with!”

“Well, we just-”

“Shut up, Andrew!” Buffy screamed. “You have no idea what you’ve done, or how much you’ve messed things up,” she said in that same low yet seething tone.

Both Andrew and Jonathon exchanged confused glances. “You’re the slayer though. Didn’t you just slay?” Jonathon asked.

Buffy sighed. “I tried. His claws had a better plan and now I have to figure out which dimension is real…”

Andrew looked even more confused. “You’re talking about a Glargabullgashmanick. I didn’t summon that.”

Buffy narrowed her eyes and stepped forward. “Then what did you summon?”

“A Roshendnick,” Andrew answered.

“A Roman hick?” Buffy asked, thinking that’s what she heard.

“No, a Roshendnick,” Jonathon corrected. “We just wanted to see you fight.”

“Well…what does a…this demon do?” She asked slowly.

“Nothing special. Its only strength is the spikes that grow from his claws…” He trailed off, seeing Buffy’s widened eyes. “But we knew you could beat it!”

“Well, so far I haven’t seen this…Roman Hick…and we have no idea how many people it’s hurt.”

“But-”

“Shut up, Andrew. You’ve put people in danger, when I gave you another chance. What is your problem?”

The two just looked down in shame and Buffy turned, walking up the steps.

“Wait, aren’t you going to beat us up?” Jonathon asked.

“Or chain us?” Andrew chipped in.

Buffy continued to walk. “No. But this is definitely your warning.”

[Later, cemetery. Buffy has a sword and is waiting for the demon]

“We just wanted to see you fight,” Buffy says, mimicking Andrew and Jonathon’s voices. God, she was upset with them now. How could they do this to her? She had given them a chance to help…oh, who was she kidding? It was going to take more than an invite to be a Scooby to get these guys straightened out.

“So, are you talking to yourself, or are you lost in that fake world of yours?” Spike asked as he came out from the shadows.

“Talking to myself,” Buffy said without thinking and sighed. “I was…oh, shut up.” She gave him a teasing smile and then scanned the graveyard.

“Sword, is it? Last time I checked you used a pointy, wooden stake.”

“The geeks in my basement summoned a demon. Said he has spikes on his hands. So I plan to stay as far from the guy as possible.” Spike shook his head with a small grin.

Seeing that the demon in question is nowhere in sight, Buffy sits down on a headstone, and Spike does the same.

“So…been seeing that alternate reality lately?” He asked casually.

“When I woke up this morning…yeah…” She looked down, hiding all the pain in her eyes.

“Well, I don’t feel like someone who’s just a made-up in your brain,” Spike replied, making the mood a little lighter. Sure enough, a smile tugged on the edges of her lips.

Buffy then dropped her sword as she brought her head to her hands. “Buffy?” She groaned in pain and fell to her knees. “Buffy!”

“Buffy?” Giles asked, holding the wet cloth to her forehead. She looked up and him and realized she was back in the other reality.

“You’ve been doing this a lot, Buffy…any idea what’s going on?” Willow asked. Buffy didn’t answer but looked around. She was in a large room surrounded by all the newly risen slayers and her friends. “Buffy?”

“No. I’m just tired, Will,” Buffy lied.

“Then what’s with all the sleep talking?” Dawn asked, a little pain in her eyes. “Buffy… we know what’s going on. You space out and then talk like you did when that demon made you think you were in the nut house. Willow says that the antidote must’ve wore off or something and now you’re going in some alternate reality again,” she explained bluntly.

“No, guys…” Buffy started, but Willow cut her off.

“Buffy, I can just make another antidote. We just have to find another one of those demons and-”

“He’s there,” Buffy said, a little angry now.

“We know…Spike is in this new reality of yours,” Xander said, annoyance in his voice.

“So is Anya,” Buffy said softly. “And Tara. And I can keep them alive this time, I just-”

“Buffy, stop,” Giles said a little harshly. “Don’t you see what you’re doing? You’ve made up this scenario in your mind so that you can save the people you’ve lost. It isn’t real, Buffy. You can’t change what’s happened.”

Buffy sat up straight in the bed she was on, piercing anger in her eyes. “That’s not true. If I wanted to save the people I loved, I would’ve gone back to before my mom died, and you know it!”

“How could you have saved her?” Xander questioned. “You knew it was her time--- that’s why you didn’t go back that far.”

“Buffy, we’ll get the cure and bring you back,” Willow announced slowly and gave a weak smile.

Buffy felt her headache coming on, and knew she was going back.

“Bloody hell!” She heard Spike yell as she opened her eyes in the cemetery again. Sitting up, her eyes focused on him as he slid her sword into a demon. When the demon fell, she saw that it had the spikes in its hands and knew it was the Roshendnick. When she tried to sit up straighter, she felt a pain in her stomach.

“Buffy, don’t try to move,” Spike commanded softly as he got by her side. That’s when she looked down and saw several bleeding gashes in her lower abdomen.

“What happened?”

“You went out. That’s when that guy decided to attack, and went after you,” Spike explained. “He’s gone now, though.”

Buffy nodded, glad that it was over. Her abdomen hurt, but she knew it would heal fast enough. Slowly, she let her head fall forward until it was resting on his shoulder.

“Wanna go home, pet?” He asked softly, running his fingers up and down on her back.

“No. Don’t move me yet,” she said, closing her eyes.

“Buffy?” Spike called softly to her, after a few minutes, hoping she hadn’t gone to sleep.

“Hmmm?”

“I love you,” he told her with apparent pain in his voice that she might not be able to say it back.

She wasn’t asleep. She felt kind of spaced, but she knew exactly what he said.

Was the Spike in this dimension ready for it?

“I know,” she said groggily, as if she’s mostly asleep. “Oh, and Spike?”

With disappointment apparent in his eyes, he continued to stroke her back softly. “Yes, pet?”

“I love you, too.”





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