Spike did well despite the impossible odds. The dragon was too much for the team. Angel tried to claim it as his sole conquest but he learned his lesson. The great poof was laying on his side clutching onto a gaping wound ineffectively as he watched the blood seep around his fingers.

The only wound that Spike seemed to really have obtained was a minor flesh wound that was hardly even bleeding anymore. Not for lack of trying though. Spike needed the world to know that he could save the world more than once. Apocalypses were a dime a dozen these days and he wasn't about to let Mr. McBroody get all the credit for this one.

Illyria was somewhere. The last time Spike saw anything of the weird blue bint she was up against what seemed to be at least fifteen demons and a troll but Illyria always did have that knack for slowing time. Spike could see her vaguely through both his super vampire senses and the fact that Illyria began to include him and Angel in her time bubbles as the battle wound down either to help or she was losing her concentration. Spike thought possibly both but mostly the latter.

Gunn was dead, Westley was dead. The whole city seemed like it was burning. Spike wondered absently how one hero down, they hoped to continue to close the portal. Sure the dragon was in fact slayed and sort of twitching over by the remains of what was likely a bakery due to the smell of burning toast coming from it but that was just one dragon. New monstrosities continues to pop into existance.

Spike was very tired. You didn't need to be bleeding all over the place for exhaustion to slowly creep in. Pulling himself out of his little reverie Spike dragged himself in the direction of Illyria who despite standing quite a bit more upright than he was Spike could tell that her strength was waning.

“Need help pet?”

“Blonde one. Yes. No. A god does not need help.”

Spike watched as she took a rather vicious punch to the side from some slimy green mucus demon. Instinctively he lashed out punching at the demon from behind. Spikes fist went right through the head of the demon, covering his fist and most of his arm in snot. Apparently the demon was only solid when it decided to be.

Illyria looked to the ground at the glob between the blows of yet another demon coming after her. Spike winced when he thought of a horrible reason why so many demons seemed to be picking on the ex hell god. Right now she was a very pleasant to look at ex hell god. If Spike hadn't sworn himself to the Slayer, unknowing to Buffy or not Spike would have quite liked to find what other bits Blue hid that might have been blue too.

The snot ball on the ground was slowly reforming itself into a demon form again. The snot still attached to spikes arm was falling off onto the ground as if being summoned back to the greater whole. It wouldn't be long before the snot demon was complete by the look of it. Illyria shook her head and rolled her eyes. Suddenly Blue was on top of him, pushing her hands into his pockets and running her hands around his sides.

“Woah pet, careful with the merchandise. That and this seems to be a soddin bad time to be getting out bits pushed together if you catch my drift ya?”

Illyria found what she was looking for, a zippo lighter that Spike had been carrying out of habit for months now. Lighting it she tossed it into the blob. Spike was about to protest and say how much he loved that lighter if it went for the blob catching fire immediately and crackling like a marshmallow thrown into a fire.

“Bloody brilliant Blue.”

There was a steady noise building in the distance that Spike could hear. It sounded like a diesel engine but Spike hadn't seen any working vehicles in what felt like hours. As it got closer Spike began to believe that it was much more than just one diesel engine. Many. It got louder, closer. Spike could now discern at least twenty engines. Probably more.

In the distance between smoking rubble Spike saw headlights. Lots of headlights. They were coming down the streets from many directions. Buses by the look of it. Buses and vans and trucks. As they neared another sound was added to the din. Battle cries of...girls?

They slayer army had arrived in L.A. And by the look of it, it was all of them. Spike knew that all the potential slayers out there were now fully fledged slayers. When Spike was still with Buffy a year ago she was training a good handful. But this was more than a handful. This was truly a legion. Thousands of slayers. Packed into buses and vans. Some of them running along side having no issue keeping up as they lashed out with swords and axes at the demons who got to close to the convoys.

In the back of his head Spike was worried. He knew the battle might get a little smoother true but how was he going to explain his being alive, well re-undead again should HIS slayer be there. She would be there too. Buffy would never have let this go on without her. With all likelihood she daft girl would be in the first bus that made it to the city center. Or one of those running along side. Completely calm and collected, sword dripping in demon mess. That was his girl. Always taking an initiative, always flirting with the not so jolly line of death.

'Oh what in the soddin world am I going to say? Oh hi Buffy? Yeah I'm undead again. Wanna shag? No...thats all bad. Probably need to flirt with the bint, start all over. At least I don't have the bloody chip ticking away in me. Cuz if the bird tries to hit me I sure as bleeding hell am going to hit back. Well no, I deserve it don I? Life was so much easier without this soul. Makes things confusing. Okay I'll let HER say the first thing if I even see her. That's it. So much easier.'

Sure enough as the first bus got closer Spike could see inside it. Looked like a big butchy girl driving it. Probably one of the potentials. The Bus was packed with girls. But leaning out the door was a pure vision of perfection. Spike's effulgent glory had arrived at lasst bring the whole A-team with her to help save the world like always.

Illyria threw a demon toward the bus as it approached assuming the bus would act as a final not so comfy wall for the demon to bounce off of and die. Buffy saw the demon fly and flicked her arm up carrying with it a sword which behead the demon before it ever hit the engine block. The bus came to a halt. Spike's world came to a halt.

Illyria stood next to Spike wondering if the girl was a friend or an enemy. Seeing the sword in the Slayers hand she moved between Spike and the blonde girl. Becoming a barrier. In most the dimensions Illyria knew most slayers were quite adept at both killing demons, and especially vampires. Spike was interesting. Illyria didn't want her toys being staked by little girls.
Buffy had long since given up on being happy. She was the commander of the Slayer Army. She had no time for personal life. No time to even attempt to really make friends even. It didn't bother her though. Buffy felt like she lost part of her soul when Spike was taken from her last year. Stupid jerk refused to believe she loved him. But she did. Her whole world shut off when he died saving her. The glaze went over her eyes and all she ever saw anymore was duty and business, and a violently blonde vampire staring at her like she was a bright shiny candy to eat. And a demon woman in front of him.

Buffy knew what was going on. Another apocalypse. Yet again Buffy was here to save the day from what her seers told her was caused by her ex-boyfriend Angel. Supposedly Angel hasn't even lost his soul this time and was still ruining the world.

'What in the Hellmouth did I ever see in him?' she wondered. 'And why is there a blue demon woman protecting a vampire from me? And why does he seem so famil--'

“Spike!?”

Spike's face rose up in joy seeing Buffy again, his fear completely melted out of him at the happy, if fairly shocked tone of her voice. Illyria saw that the blonde slayer meant no harm to her pet and side stepped wondering what was going on. Did not slayers and vampires mean harm to each other? Perhaps in this dimension things are askew. Never did seem to be enough shrimp here.

Buffy dropped her sword and walked up to the man of all her dreams for the last year. She had gone over this moment 100 times. Wondering about the ethics of convincing Willow to bring him back like she did for me. She would never had asked, but oh did she dream of seeing him again. Spike. My spike. Here. Buffy walked up to him.

“Spike! You are alive!”

“Not quite, pet. But you seem good.”

Spike took another step towards his goddess. Quite oblivious to the raging battle still going on. Spike was not moving with the same time as the rest of the world.

“Vampire thralling 10:00!”

Several slayers shouted and came running towards the couple who were standing peacefully staring into the eternity in eachother's eyes.

“Got it!”

Neither Spike nor Buffy saw the spear flying in their direction until it was too late. Buffy stood there staring into the eyes of her man as they went from awe, to shock, to dust and fell at her feet. The slayer who threw the spear was already fighting off Illyria who was in a rage. Other slayers joined the fray to fight down Illyria. In all it took nearly 30 girls to kill the raging blue hell goddess. All the while Buffy stood there in pure shock. She didn't move, she didn't speak she just let the world burn as the battle raged on.

“Buffy, come on. We need to move! Buffy? Buffy!”

Buffy never felt so wounded. So empty. She had died now twice in her “life” for real. But her soul felt like it was crushed now countless times. It was enough. Every time Buffy got even a little bit happy the power that be had the nerve to just crush them all to the dust that Spike's corpse was yes again.

Buffy screamed. A great keening sound of pain and misery. A sound so sickeningly sad it was as if she could tear down the world around. It was the sound of Buffy's soul leaving her body. The shell that was Buffy's tried desperately to hold on. But it wasn't enough. The power that a slayer is is in the soul not the flesh. And soon all Buffy was aware of was darkness.

The shell was dead. Buffy was dead. Lying in a heap next to Spike's ashes.

The darkness was a comfort to Buffy. She felt like she was floating. Sure it wasn't the heaven she recalled but at least it was better than the torture she had just felt. Slowly the floating sensation shifted and she felt herself being pulled on, tugged towards a gray horizon.

It was slightly beyond Buffy's ability to comprehend. She felt like she was dead again. But the last time she died. She was in heaven. Her mom and sister were there making pancakes. She went to the Bronze every night and was happy and carefree. But this place. This was empty. No pain, but no pancakes. Just empty and dark. As the mists got lighter she saw a light. A orb of glowing sparkles. Just hovering there. It was very alluring. Buffy wanted to get closer.

As soon as Buffy thought to get closer it did. It swelled in size and the mists that were surrounding her faded gradually into a scene of an ancient Greek shrine, though slightly falling apart. Columns supporting the outer rim of what may have been a covered ceiling before were chipped and some had large cracks in them. The marble floor had large holes and cracks in it as well where Buffy could see wisps of gray mist flowing beneath. Wisely thinking her way around them she made her way closer to the orb. Nearer the shining ball of familiarity took on an even more familiar shape, a tall roguishly handsome blonde man. Spike.

Now, when Buffy had died before she was fairly certain Spike wasn't there with her. Though she recalled thinking about him there a few times as if he should be. But here he was this time. And there were others here too. Both were sitting at a fountain in the center of the shrine. What looked like identical twins at first turned out to be an oddly ageless boy and girl.

When they both stood and looked at the two champions the more feminine one beckoned out to Buffy and Spike summoning them to the fountain. Spike smirked as if he was expecting this and Buffy tried to take his lead pretending to know what was going on. She did not recognize the twins and didn't want to feel like they had an upper hand with her ignorance.

As Spike opened his mouth to speak, the male figure held up his hands for silence and the female one approached.

“We are glad to see the Champion return to us. We felt it has been many ages since it came with both it's halves. We welcome you again to the In Between. We see you are confused. We understand. The shells you are placed into are so small without form. But we will educate, even if we know you will forget again. Proud Champion we are sad you did not assist in the rebuilding much this incarnation. If anything we see things may have become worse.”

Buffy had no clue what was going on. The In Between? Was she dead? Was she in a new dimension? Not much to it here. Sort of ancienty. Ancienty things never appealed to Buffy as her History teachers could have unanimously agreed on. Now give her a sword and an ancient demon she could handle, but no fight? No point. Buffy was about to ask where she was when the the male one held up his hand to cut her off.

“We know you have questions Champion. We see what you think. We are pleased to tell you that you are not dead. Not quite. We are pleased to tell you that you cannot die. We remind you that your shells may die, and have died. But your soul can never truly die. And we are pleased to see both halves here at one time as it is rare. We hope that perhaps what you learn here will be retained much more than when you are split. We apologize that we cannot be more informative but for all we may push and pull you in the right direction you create your own paths your own destinies. We do not know what will happen past the choices you make. This last time we were not pleased to see such a rift between you. The halves never quite came together, and the In Between could not be whole if it's Champion was not either.”

Spike looked around his surroundings once more. Taking in the shrine, its dilapidated state and the way the fog of gray mist seemed to crush in on it. He felt somewhere in himself that this should be a paradise. Full of green and blue skies and suns that don't burn. Spike looked to Buffy silently asking if Buffy had a clue what was going on.

'Last time I was here was righ' after I saved Sunnyhell but the twins never said this much. Was more like ' oh you useless sod try again' Only more royal “wes” were involved as if they ran the universe. Bloody powers. That's what they had to be. Powers That Be and all that made into people to talk to. Not that they let you get a bloody word in. Soddin fairy people always mysterious no matter what dimension you are in.'

The female spoke once more.

“Oh Spike you are mostly correct. However, we are not the Powers that Be we are the Power that be. For we are one as you are one. Without each other you are not whole. This realm will never be whole. The last time the In Between saw sky was over two hundred incarnations ago but even then you were not whole. We believed that in the romance of Renaissance Italy you showed great potential but alas. We were not pleased when the slayer was burned at the stake before you professed your love. We do not see how hard it can be. But we continue. We wait and we push and we wait some more. We, like you, are eternal. We simply wish eternity were a bit less.. gray. For this is the one realm we do not control. This is the Champion's realm. This realm depends on the Champion.”

Buffy was beginning to get sick of herself and Spike being referred to as only one entity. But as soon as she opened her mouth the male cut her off once more.

“You are but one half of one whole. We regret that the only thing the halves remember is often only the previous incarnation while they are here and often forget that once they are reborn into new shells. We regret it is even harder for the halves to remember this realm when back in corporeal form. This realm does not blend with other existences as we float between and around them. We are everywhere at once and nowhere. We exist beyond comprehension. Even here the Champion of it all sees two figures talking to it however we are here and not here as well. We are merely the way Power is personified in your head. Should you have been Fyral demons we would appear before you substantially larger with horns. And this realm, well what remains of it, would be all black spires and lava flows.”

Buffy began to wonder about the validity of what the twins were saying. In the last nearly ten years of slaying Buffy knew that just about everything was possible. And the more the strange people spoke the more sense it made. But if all this were true, why would a realm be falling apart because of her and Spike? Why if supposedly there were so many incarnations did she never remember any of this before? Buffy honestly had too many questions and feared this was all too much too fast and wanted nothing more than to go home.

“We know that you know what we speak is true, deep within you Champion. The look of doubt upon your face saddens us. Reach into yourself and feel your other half. You have been drawn together since the beginning of time. Though sometimes things do not always work as they should. We feel as if you are getting close. We tell the half named Spike now that there was no need to 'get' a soul those years ago. Your half was always there near you. For you were near your other half. True it was gone for many years held back by the demon that possessed your shell but it was never very far. Once you first laid eyes on her it returned. Hovering. Near your heart. Within you. The demon felt it. The demon feared it. But the demon accepted it as it saw it as a strength. We believe it was closer to possessing the demon than the other way round.”

“And you, half called Buffy. We were humored at your mother naming you such silly nonsense but we had hoped that the insincere name would help buffet your soul to a happier place so we allowed it. You have always been the difficult half. The fearful half. Your fear makes you stronger. You hold onto what you know and what you feel and for that we commend you. However we saw how you abused the other half. We saw how you abused yourself for feeling for it. And we saw how much in the end you pained to see it taken from you.”

“We believe the Champion as a whole was onto something good in this last incarnation you had become close to each other. In the end you halves were nearly a whole again. Without that small joy what you'd see today would likely be even more rubble and much more dark than it has been. For we must remind you, we, this existence and indeed yourself cannot exist without the other.”

“We are beyond heaven and hell. We are there as well as much as we are here and we see it drifting apart from other realms. We are what you could call the glue and you are the children using it. But this realm is the end of that. The true end of all. You cannot grow here. You can only be. So we send you back. Back to the beginning of the last incarnation. To grow. We shall change nothing. You will repeat it all. All the ups and downs will be as they were. However, we gift you. We will help your shells remember when we can.”

“Do not be overjoyed for we are weakened. You will have a hard time ahead Champion but do not worry. And do not fear. We shall watch over you as we always have. When you despair, come together and feel whole again. The closer you are, the stronger we are. The stronger the realm is and the stronger the ties will be between you. You are strong together, but you are mighty as one. Trust yourself.”

Spike and Buffy felt their pulses race in excitement. They wouldn't forget their love. They couldn't it felt like a warm tide growing in them. A great warming sensation from withing burgeoning its way through their veins. The skin tingled and heated up. Buffy saw Spike's eyes glowing with a heat and passion and fire and he saw the same within hers.

They embraced each other feeling their fires grow. They felt as one. And should a third person have reported what they saw, it would have been a sun radiating out pure passionate heat. There was no way they could ever forget this feeling. Never question the complete rightness of being together.

The twins smiled sadly at each other. And coming together themselves they became one. The realm dimmed. Buffy felt the heat within her slowly fade. Spike felt a small drifting sensation. The slayer began thinking in disjointed French. Spike began to feel hungry. Music was playing. Buffy felt herself dancing, moving to the music between friends. Spike saw visions of people between him and his love.

The only thing was, Spike suddenly couldn't remember what he was just thinking. He saw the slayer there dancing with her friends. A cheeky dark haired boy that would be anything but edible, and a tasty looking red head dancing awkwardly sided next to the slayer. But something about this slayer felt different than his others. She was more than his future conquest. He couldn't quite place it but he would figure it out if it killed him.

Spike sauntered over to the bar telling one of the minions to go get something to eat. He needed the slayer to get away from this crowd. Too many people. Even if draining slayers was the biggest aphrodisiac he could name he didn't fancy doing it in front of quite so many witnesses. Going to a random man dancing behind the slayer he said in a loud voice so the slayer might hear.

“Wheres the phone. I need to call the police. There's some big guy out there trying to bite someone.”

Buffy ran off to the alley. An instinctual need to save the day drove her onward but there was this tiny voice from within saying what she really needed was still inside.

'Come on inner wigglies knock that off we got some slayage to do!'

Buffy ran outside. Spike followed.