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MEANWHILE, IN ROME:

“So...what do you think Buffy’s doing?”

Andrew turned to his fellow watcher. “Inevitably saving this and other dimensions from nefarious villains, easily slaying Vampyres, without a single blonde hair out of place—”

“Ice cream.” Interrupted Xander. Andrew paused as the three men travelled through the graveyard, stakes ready.

“Xander, Buffy journeyed to Rome under durress about Angel. I hardly think cold, sugary treats enter her plans.”

“Ah, but my vote is still for ice cream.” The boy grinned at Giles.

“Please don’t say ice, it’s bloody freezing. Speaking of the cold and slippery, how’s Tchenke?” The graying man grinned, removing his glasses to polish them.

“Hey! She is NOT cold and slippery. She’s totally normal. She just HAPPENS to be half-mermaid.”

“Huh? Tuh-cheen-kuh? Xander got a new demon-girl?” Andrew perked up.

“NO! Ok, Mermaids are only part demon. And yes, Ok, evil. But only Tchenke’s mother was a mermaid! Or, merwoman. She says that’s mer empowering. Ahehe...”

Giles smacked the boy lightly on the back of the head for the use of pun. “Goodness, I wish it would warm up. But you must admit, there seems to be a pattern. The praying-mantis teacher--”

“Huh?” Andrew was so lost.

“...Mummy girl...”

“What?”

“...Not to mention Cordelia...”

“Who?” So, so lost.

“...Plus Anya.” This was met by stone.

They dead weren’t spoken of.

But sometimes they spoke.

“The whitest of ashes are coming. They fall and dance and die.” The three hunters spun around. “Nip at your eyes, they do. Bite and slash till you can’t see any longer, blind, like my William.”

“Drusilla. Can someone remind me why you are not of the perma-dead?” Xander looked at the woman. She could have stepped out of an old movie- she was all black hair and clothes and white face and fingers. She swayed back and forth, fingers tangling with the wind.

“He can see it by my stars. The stars are screaming and burning, burning like a naughty boy who loved too much.” She grinned like she’d just gotten a dirty joke. “It starts inside, worms it way out like a finger.”

“Back evil fiend! Never shall you defeat us! For the council has enemies, but through strength and courage--”

“Andrew, do shut up.” The old watcher was surprisingly intrigued by the vampire’s rantings.

“He hasn’t learned the lesson yet—he was in the basement when the school bell rung, talking to crosses and things he hates. He hasn’t learned, so when the stars scream blue, he burns again. Sizzling green spider webs will knock them down like drops of water, but still the boy will die. Because he and Daddy still taste like ashes. Because he doesn’t know his lesson yet.”

“And what is the lesson, Drusilla?” Giles stepped closer gingerly.

The girl giggled. “Silly brown fish.” Slowly she drew a sharp nail across her cheek , and licked the blood of the fingertip when she pulled it away. Then she whispered, as if sharing a secret:

“To not fade away.”

“Oookay, full on case of wiggins is a check. Can I make with the staking now?” But by the time Xander had even raised the stake, the girl was gone.

“Should we call Buffy?” Andrew asked the frowning watcher.

“Bout what? It’s just crazy nonsense- green spiders and brown fish and white ashes...” Xander shook his head. In a few minutes, it was pelted with snow.



L.A.

“Well can’t you, I don’t know, wave a wand? Break the spell?”

Willow scowled at Angel. “Doesn’t really work that way. Turns out, when the greatest inter-dimensional evil that exists casts a spell over its vast army to make the wounds from their weapons permanent? Kinda impossible to fix.”

Spike sighed and leaned back. “Right, so...what do we do? Be in pain and crippled for the rest of our un-lives? Not to mention Charlie-boy.”

“I guess we gotta defeat the army. Wherever it is.”

“Well, maybe that’s why they retreated? Weaken us and all that rot.”

“Don’t think so...” Angel frowned. “They could have killed us there.” He turned to his comrade-in-arms. “They wanted to punish us Spike. This, this is our punishment for striking at the Senior Partners- slow, painful, really slow deaths.”

“Wankers. I still need to slay that dragon.”

“Whoa hey, I claimed the dragon, K?”

“Bollocks! If you hadn’t—”

“Hey, children! Moving on. ‘Bout our recruits?”

Angel nodded sheepishly, while Spike grinned, cavalier as usual. “Don’t see what good it’ll do. ‘Sides getting me dusty—tried to kill one’s girlfriend, the other’s sister, and just beat the sodding arse of the last one.”

“I’ll um...explain later. Spike, could you go check up on Fred and Buffy?”

“Uh...” Spike stood up but wouldn’t meet Willow’s eyes.

“I’ll explain.” Angel told him as he left. And he did.



“Y’all right in here?” The bleached-blonde stuck his head in.

“Uhh...” Buffy still hadn’t looked away from the blue eyed demon. “Is she like...an artist? Or a stormtrooper?”

“Yes. No. Both. Er, why don’t you just head to your room and never ever deal with her again.”

“’K.”



“So that’s the deal with Illyria. What about the recruits? Why do we need them?”

“Oh. Um,” Willow wiped the last of the tears away from her eyes. “Yeah. Right. This has to do with the last part. Spike and the ouchiness?”

“What about it?”

“Well, I was thinking. Doyle—from what I heard—wasn’t so fond of being all with the demonness right? Or, demony, rather.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And for him, big with the pain. Cordelia on the other hand, when she got part-demon, she was all pain-free like. And she was fine with being not totally human.”

“Right. Oh. OH. So--”

“Spike’s visions hurt cuz he isn’t accepting of his demon.”

“Yes he is. I mean he IS. He, like brags about it. Often.”

“Doesn’t mean he accepts or likes it. Ever hear of a coping mecahnism? If Spike didn’t act totally fine with it all, he’d be like, Broody McBroodster.” This got her an Angel-sized glare. “Which is a perfectly acceptable alternative.”

“I’M the one who should get the visions anyway. Cordelia kissed me. Me! The visions are mine. He stole ‘em, as is the custom.”

“Uh...sure. Moving on to the soon to be arriving: They’re gonna help restrain Spike.”

“OK, I get how he can be a pain-in-the-ass, but do we really need--”

“Angel, I don’t think you get it.” The redhead took a deep breath and looked the vampire in the eye. “I’m gonna remove Spike’s soul.”




He had been sitting in the garden for a long time.

The sun was starting to rise, and he missed the shade of gray it turned right before daytime. He didn’t see it often. The jasmine blooms were dead, but he knew they would be closing. His skin began to jump and itch, so he went back into the lobby.

“Couldn’t sleep?” The girl’s voice startled him. “Me neither. I start to fall asleep, and then I end up having the weirdest dreams. Monsters and portals and really, really bright lights. Huh.”

Spike shrugged. “I’m a night owl. Rather sleep in the day. Sorta lost track of the date though...”

“Don’t ask me.” Buffy smiled. “It’s weird—I remember basic things. Like what color oranges are and, I dunno, how chocolate tastes. But I don’t remember what house I grew up in, or how I got this nasty scar on my left hand, or yeah, the date.” She wondered why the other man was examining his own hand, like he was looking for something. She noticed the scar before he hid it behind his back.

“I guess it’s bout the remembering feature. Anything that you have to actually think about to remember is gone. Your—Oh.” Buffy’s growing frown began to blur in front of him. “Bloody hell not again...Powers can take their visions and shove--”

And he screamed.




He still hadn’t said anything about it.

After Willow had told him the plan about how to not have Spike’s brains come out a play in the fresh air, he got really quiet for a while. Then he just started pacing.

“I called them already. Um...the three backups are on their way.” No response. “They said they would meet up in Agoura, then take a bus down. Probably be here pretty soon.” Nothing. “Uh...So. So, you’re defintely staining the carpet a new and exciting color.” Angel looked at the crimson color he was turning the rug. “Guess those cuts aren’t gonna get better for a while, huh.”

She sat for a few minutes, thinking back and the trail of blood she’d seen. How it spread, and stained everything it touched. Even when the murdered didn’t bleed, or when they bled all over you.

Angel had heard about the witch’s girlfriend. True love or some such. He’d never actually met her, but she’d sounded nice enough. Of course she died.

The redhead looked out the window at the rising sun. It looked over the garden. Blue sky filled most of her view, and a tree or two. She knew grass lay withering below it, but all she saw was a backyard she hadn’t been in for more than a year. “Not till we find and kill the um...” She itched at her sweaty palms. “Or uh...” Finally she stood up and walked to the window, drawing the curtains shut tight. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Which was answered by a painful scream from downstairs. Obviously.



“Spike! Spike, what happened? Did you have another vis-migraine?!” Willow caught herself just in time.

“Nnngrghfm.” Was the mumbled reply from the tile floor.

“Spike, we gotta know if uh...you need help. In an alley. Soon.” Angel ignored the very freaked look this got from Buffy. “Spike! Speak already!”

“There is no talking ... only pain.” The vampire growled, still not moving.

“Come on already. We have visitors, coming, probably real soon, and you don’t want to make a grand non-entrance now do you?” Willow coaxed

He finally lifted himself from the floor. “You can untwist your knickers, princess. We got time.”

Buffy jumped in, defending her maybe-friend. “Hey, you can’t talk to Willow like--”

“I was talking to Angel.”

Buffy nodded. “Ah. Continue.”

Suddenly the door slammed open. The clump in the lobby looked over sharply, startled.

“Huh. Sooner than I thought.” Willow smiled at the three familiar faces who entered. Angel nodded nervously, Buffy stared blankly, and Spike tried very hard to hide his face.

“Hey, Red.” Fraith grinned a cheshire grin, framed by Dawn and Oz. “So. Who here needs a good slay?”



A/N: Yea, you thought i died, didn’t you? No luck. Joss wanted Spike back, but there were manacles, so...

Actually, i FINALLY found my computer, internet and all. So i be set, and chapters will come thick and occasional now, promise. Real sorry. Hope any readers i had haven’t off and died of old age. *crickets*





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