By Heather Martin

*You can lie to others. You can lie to yourself. But you can’t lie to your dreams .*

Spoilers- Grave

Disclaimer- Joss owns all the characters from Buffy TVS. The soul mate principle idea was taken from L.J. Smith’s book series called Night World.

Distribution- Sure, just ask

Summary- Anyone know what dissociative fugue amnesia is? Well, Spike develops such a case after his sudden shiny soul, along with the unexpected return of humanity. He just can’t cope, so he pretends to be somebody he‘s not. As for Buffy, she lies to herself that Spike’s absence hasn’t effected her. But at night, she cannot keep him out of her dreams. What will happen to these two lost souls? Will they ever find their way? And will it be together?

This occurs after Grave. The time between episodes are unclear. Pretend that everything after ‘As You Were ‘only spanned a couple weeks. If you think about it, that makes sense. Seeing Red, Villians, 2 to Go, and Grave all happened in a couple days.

Chapter 25

Buffy awoke to find that she couldn’t move. It wasn’t that she didn’t have control of her body like before. She could blink when she chose to. The rest of her, however, was a dead weight.

“So, your awake then? Good.”

Buffy tried to open her mouth to speak, but found that she couldn’t. Great. The only thing working seemed to be her eyes.

“I bet you are wondering what is going on, don’t you, precious?”

The speaker was deadly beautiful. She had long fiery hair. A black dress molded to her form, displaying gorgeous curves.

“My name is Medora,” the woman said. “I’m not a demon. I’m a witch. I’m more powerful that anything you’ve encountered. Even your little magic friend. I’ve moved past the mortal form. The body is only capable of holding so much power. I’m pure energy now. You only see me this way because I chose for you to.”

Buffy closed her eyes. She wished she could tune out the words. If she had functioning vocal chords she could have come up with a good pun. Something about how evil beings could never just get to the point.

Medora loomed over Buffy. She stroked Buffy’s cheek. Buffy wished she could spit in the witch’s face.

“Such a pretty thing. No wonder your man loves you so much. I bet you want to go back to him, don’t you? Love.” Medora laughed. The sound was like chalk on a chalkboard. “It is funny how close love and hate are. I don’t think you know how close.”

How very wrong you are, Buffy thought. I know perfectly.

“Even soulmates can hate. Two halves. Two opposites to form a whole. Hate and love are opposites. Yet they are so interchanging. They can change from one to the next in a flash.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. She was proud that she could manage that at least. Would this Medora ever shut up? If she was going to kill her she wished she would get on with it already.

“I had a soulmate once,” Medora confided. “I was human then. We loved each other very much. But then he died. He died and left me.”

Boo hoo for you, Buffy thought.

“He killed himself. Suicide.” Medora said this with rage. “He hung himself and left me all alone!”

“That was when I knew that the soulmate principal was bullshit.”

Buffy begged to whatever deity there was that she could go deaf. Was this a new form of torture?

“I shed my shell and let the magic consume me. I devoted my existence to ending soulmates all together.” There was a pause. “And then I heard of them. The Children of Light. I thought you and your handsome devil were it. I was wrong.”

Buffy could feel a hand press against her swollen belly. The baby kicked against it almost as if in anger.

Medora’s face grew close. She whispered into Buffy’s ear.

“Your little girl is special, slayer. Did you know that?” She laughed. “Of course you did. She’s going to bring light, Buffy. Light and love. Banish the hate and darkness.”

Medora straightened. She grinned evilly. “Unless we change that.”

Oh no! Buffy’s mind cried. Not my baby. What was she going to do with her baby?

***********************************

The whole Scooby gang was gathered at The Magic Box. They scoured through book after book. Willow typed furiously on her labtop. They searched for hours and hours, not giving up.

“I found something!” Cleo shouted.

Spike quickly got up out of his seat. He rushed to the witch’s side. He grabbed the book she had in front of her and began to read aloud.

“Medora: the heart snatcher. A witch who transcended mortal form into one of a spiritual body. She dwells in a lair, in a dimension of her own creation. She seeks out soulmates relationships to destroy. Popular rumor has it that Medora is out for revenge. She was once in love with her own mate, who left her when committing suicide.”

Spike looked up from the book. He slammed the volume onto the table, making everybody jump. “And that is so bloody helpful!”

“I have an idea,” Cleo announced.

“What’s that?”

“I can do a spell. You have a connection with Buffy, right?”

“Yeah. We can sometimes feel what the other is feeling. If we concentrate hard enough.”

“I think I could use that to transport you to where she is.”

Hope formed in Spike. “Let’s get started then.”

“Wait a sec,” Xander interrupted. “How are you going to defeat this uber-witch when you find her?”

“Don’t give toss,” Spike said. “Buffy and I’ll figure it out. We always do.”

“Up until now.”

***************************************

Medora had left the room. Buffy was so thankful for the peace and quiet. She spent the time trying to contact Spike with her mind. She knew it was hopeless but she had to try anyway.

Suddenly Buffy could hear footsteps approaching. Then chanting filled the air. A purple glow hovered over her. Buffy grew dizzy, which was ridiculous considering that she had remained in one place for she didn’t know how long.

The chanting stopped.

“I’m going to release you now,” Medora informed. “But let me assure you, escaping is out of the question. And attacking would be even a dumber thing.”

Buffy could finally move. She got off the table she had been lying on. She rushed at Medora with great speed. Well, as fast as her massively weighted down abdomen would allow. Her fist hit nothing. It went straight through Medora.

The witch giggled. “I told you, slayer. I don’t process a solid form. You can’t hurt me. So don’t even try. As for escaping, it is useless. You aren’t in your world. The only way to get out of here is magic. And you don’t have any of that.”

Pain suddenly engulfed her stomach. Her hands gripped her middle.

“Oh, and there’s that,” Medora said. She pointed to Buffy’s stomach.

Fire in Buffy’s green eyes, she glared. “What did you do to me!?”

“Why, you’re in labor, Buffy.”

Buffy cried out. She almost fell as another wave of agony hit her. She held onto the table in attempt to stay upright.

“This isn’t normal,” Buffy told Medora. “The contractions shouldn’t be so harsh yet.”

“Magic, slayer. I brought you into active labor. You’ll be delivering your bundle of joy in no time.”

Buffy sunk to the floor. She gritted her teeth.

“And then she’ll be mine. Mine to bring up. Mine to leash darkness over the land. After I get my clutches on that little Conner.”

Oh God. Oh God. Oh God!

Buffy let out a scream.

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