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*** This is the end, let me know what you all think! I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it!!****




Hank burst through the doors, just in time to see Spike bring down the blade. He had been expecting this but like always, he had failed his daughter once again.

Pain exploded through his body, eating him alive with guilt and Spike closed his eyes and screamed her name into the night.

Unable to speak he walked over to where Spike was cradling her on his lap. It was easy to see what had happened, the macabre scene before him was self explanatory. Living Death had been destroyed, by both the living and dead just as the prophecy in the Pergamum Codex, Giles had translated had foretold. He knew that this couldn’t be stopped but he knew Spike did not. He knew his daughter would want to know that he was not alone right now. “She was meant to die here, nothing you could do would have changed this. It was in the Codex and everything written there comes to pass.”

“How did you know where to find us?” Spike asked unwilling to believe that she was destined to die.

“This is her place and it is fitting that she died upon the River Styx. She will find out where she belongs, like all of the living and dead before her.”

Spike glared up at him with contempt blazing in his eyes. “She belongs here, with me in this world. If I hadn’t come here, she would still be alive. It wasn’t fate that brought her to this, it was me.”

“You freed her from a life of pain and misery.” Hank said gently, laying a hand on his shoulder. To his surprise he sensed something unexplainable in the vampire. “Before she met you, she never had a single moment’s peace. You could see it in her eyes, she was haunted by her life and now she is finally free. As you are now free.”

“How can you say that to me, I just killed the woman I loved…my soul mate. I murdered her and there is no escaping what I have done.” Angry at himself, his rage boiled over spilling onto to Hank. “She was your daughter and here you are acting like this is nothing to you. You’re never going to die, so don’t talk to me about things you couldn’t possibly understand.” Spike yelled at him.

“I understand death vampire, but unlike mortals I know that it is not the end but a new beginning. I am doomed to wander this plane forever while never being a part of it. I am forced to watch everyone I love go on to a place I can never follow. Hell is not fire and brimstone, hell is being trapped in Purgatory…like she was trapped here. We both know she was never meant to belong in this world and I find comfort in the fact that she has finally found where she was meant to be.”

“How can you be so sure that he hasn’t taken her?” Spike laid his hand over the knife handle. “I’m so afraid to remove the knife for fear that he is waiting inside her and all of it would have been for nothing.”

“Do you believe that she was your soul mate?”

“Yes but I don‘t see what that has to do with his.” Spike said, brushing Buffy’s hair back off of her face.

“Your right, you don’t see. But the question is can you feel? Look inside yourself and you will know that Buffy is free.”

Not sure what he was looking for, Spike closed his eyes, searching for some deeper meaning for all of this loss. Absently, he reached down to take her hand, wanting to be close to her. To his surprise he felt something brush against his insides as delicately as a butterflies wings. For the first time in more than a century, he felt his soul. His heart did not beat, but he felt full of life. Opening his eyes he looked at Hank. “How?”

“You’re her soul mate and when she died your soul returned to you so that she could find you again. I felt it the moment I touched your shoulder. Like I said, death is only a new beginning.” Hank told him gently, hoping that knowledge would bring him some measure of comfort.

It would have, if the image of the portrait hadn’t flashed through his mind and sent him back to that day.

__________________________________________________

“She said someday a dark soul would tell me the story of my creation and that our love would either damn me for all eternity or restore my wings.”

Gently he laid her down on the rug settling himself behind her so that her head was cradled in his lap. He brushed his hand down her face, the face exactly like the crying angel in the picture. “Once upon a time, an angel was expelled from heaven and brought into a world she was never meant to exist in. The forces of evil had began to lay claim on this world and the Powers that Be knew she was the only one who was strong enough to protect the innocent. She was their gift to the world, a Champion given at a time when there were very few willing to fight. But there is a balance that must be met and by sending her into this world, it shifted the scales. The First evil demanded the order be restored. Having no choice they allowed a curse to be laid upon the Chosen One.”

“What was the curse?” Buffy asked, softly.
__________________________________________________

With her body cradled in his lap exactly like it had been that night, he finally knew what the curse had been…him. He was her curse, a creature of the darkness who had been chosen to steal her soul and damn her to hell. The prophecy Giles had found had known he would come here and he had been the one to right the balance for the First Evil. He was unclean, unholy and he had dared to defile her with his love and it had cost her life. With the dark thoughts spinning through his mind, they all sounded like the complete truth. What else could possibly explain him feeling full of life, while the woman he loved was not, he asked himself bitterly.

His newly restored soul, unable to bear the weight of his sins, spurred him to make amends. A life for a life, he thought reaching over to pull out the blade.

Closing his eyes he brought the knife to his throat and heard Hank draw a staggering breath. Before he could begin to cut he felt a hand cover his. Opening his eyes, intending to tell Hank to shove off, he found himself looking into a pair of soft green eyes, shining full of life and love. “Buffy?” He asked, the knife falling from his trembling fingers.

“I’m dead all of ten minutes and you try to kill yourself?” She teased lightly, brushing her hand down his face. “I can’t leave you alone for a minute.”

Even though he was unable to think rationally, his body knew that it was really her and not some grim impersonation. “You’re dead…the prophecy…the curse..” He said powerless to finish a complete sentence let alone a complete thought.

If she hadn’t been watching the scene from the ether realm, the place in between this world and the next, she wouldn’t have any idea what he was talking about. But since she knew what he had been through, she pressed her lips to his hoping to give him some of her strength. When she pulled away, she took his hand in hers. “The Pergamum Prophecy could be filled by anyone, since it didn’t mention any names but Living Death‘s. Just as long as someone living and someone dead participated, he would be destroyed. But since it was us another Prophecy came into effect. Dru was right, I am the Chosen One.”

“So I was your curse and you’re now dammed because of me.” Spike said trying to pull away from her.

Taking his hand, she laid it over her heart so that he could feel it beating. The killing wound he had inflicted had already closed completely as well as the ones she had done to herself. “The First couldn’t demand my life, since I was innocent so they cursed me. I was never permitted to find a moment or pure happiness like the one I had known before becoming the Chosen One. If I did, I would be taken from this world and sent back to the Powers that Be. When I died, I found that moment because I knew you would be safe.”

“Then how are you back?” Spike asked, feeling like he had missed something.

“She sacrificed herself for you and a selfless act is enough to break any deal with The First, even a curse.” Hank told them, already reaching that conclusion for himself.

“How did you know?” Buffy asked him.

“It was how I lost my godhead. I was sent to kill your mother because it would be her that would bring the Chosen One into this world. She was just a infant but I couldn’t bring myself to strike the killing blow. Her innocence shimmered around her like a golden cloud and I could not fulfill my pledge. As my punishment the First took away my powers and decreed that I would never be able to escape from my failure into death. It was a curse, so that my sin against my patron deity would haunt me for eternity.”

“But I thought you didn’t meet mom until after you were a Fallen One?” Buffy said turning to look at him, confused for the first time. “And why would you try to raise Living Death if you already had your powers?”

“All Hell Gods seek out power and despite the source it was to much to resist.” Hank told her sheepishly. Thinking about his beloved wife, he smiled softly. “But it wasn’t until after you were born that I knew that your mother had been the same girl I had been sent to kill all those years ago. Despite my punishment, I had forgotten my failure as I sought out my new conquests. But when you were born, you looked exactly like her and I understood why I had been permitted to have a child. The Powers knew that I would protect you at all costs, since I had sacrificed so much already. Evil can’t understand love, it’s too pure and innocent for it to comprehend but it is strong enough to break any curse. After your mother died, I knew that the First would want revenge against me but also that it would seek to destroy you.”

Spike got to his feet and pulled her up into his arms. He knew that Hank and Buffy were sealing the breach between them and that he should step away but he couldn’t. He had come so close to losing her, that he was afraid to let go now. When she cuddled against him as if she had read his thoughts, she gave a soft contented sigh. Wrapping his arms around her tightly, he laid his cheek against her head.

“So you sent me away.” Buffy said, finally able to understand her fathers actions. Actions that she had always blamed him for in the past. Until Spike had showed her how to love, she had never understood the man who had been her father. But with her lover holding her close, she could see him clearly for the first time. She was willing to die for Spike tonight and Hank had been willing to suffer for her. Love could be a pleasure or a pain and for her sake he had embraced the pain.

“Much like you chose to return here instead of remaining with the Powers.” Hank said with a slight nod.

“You lost your wings,” Spike said suddenly as the last bit of the story clicked into place. “You had the chance to be where you belonged so if it wasn’t because of the curse why did you come back?”

She turned in his arm so that she could look into his eyes as she offered him her heart. “Because I belong with you. I love you Spike so I don’t need to ascend to find heaven…it’s right here in your arms.”

“Is this what you really want luv?”

“More than anything,” she said tilting her lips up for what she meant to be an innocent kiss.

Spike on the other hand had other ideas.

“I think I will go keeping my eyes closed as I leave.” Hank said awkwardly even though he was glad to see his daughter so happy.

Blushing furiously she pulled away, not really ready to part with her dad again so soon. “Don’t go, we won the big battle and that means it’s time to celebrate! I keep some clothes in my office and after we‘re all drunk and danced out, I’ll buy you all some lunch.”

“I’d like that, but lunch?” Hank asked, delighted that she had asked. “It’s almost dawn and the club closes at six, so don‘t you mean breakfast?”

“The club closes in a hour for regular people but for me the club is always open. If you all are staving you can order in while I change, but trust me, it’s going to take more than an hour for us to celebrate. I mean we made it through some heavy stuff tonight, two prophecies, a curse and hey…I came back from the dead. That alone is worth a few hours of quality party time.”

“No wonder you didn’t want to be an angel pet,” Spike said with a roll of his eyes. “You’re just to good at being a bad girl to be that innocent.”

“It wasn’t that. Can you imagine trying to find an outfit that goes with wings and a halo?” She shot back, not regretting her choice for a second. “I mean you just got a soul and since black goes with anything it’s not really a problem for you. But big silver wings and a gold floaty crown thingie, that’s not such an easy look to pull off.”

While they teased each other all the way over to the club, Hank stood back to watch them. He knew that all actions, even those that were preordained had consequences. The moment she had opened her eyes, he had sensed the change in her. But like Spike, she was to lost in her emotions to realize that she had been altered by the choice she had made. He opened his mouth to tell her, when her laughter rang out in the air. It was filled with an almost childlike glee and since her life was always going to have more tears than cheer, her happiness was to precious and fleeting to spoil now.

What he had to say could wait for another day, he decided walking over to join them.





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