I still miss the sun – chapter fourteen -

 

“Are you going to start brooding?” Buffy suddenly asked, stopped walking.

 

Spike stopped walking as well and looked at her, frowning, “What are you talking about?”

 

“You haven’t said anything since the whirlwind stopped…”

 

“Sorry ducks, small talk is not in the brochure…” he hissed.

 

“Oh, c’mon Spike…spill….brooding is *so* not you”

 

“You don’t know anything about me, Slayer” he said in a low voice.

 

“True…but I know that you would normally have a fit, if you caught yourself brooding… ”

 

“Normal is the operative word here, Slayer…I expected to come here, kicking asses, having my ass kicked then saving Red and the Watcher…but these tossers could have given Angelus a run for his money…”

 

“Are you afraid of them?” she asked surprised.

 

Spike shook his head, “I’m afraid of me…and for you and your chums…I’m not strong enough….”

 

“Aw, c’mon Spike, you made a no-no, so what? We all make mistakes….nothing serious happened…tell you what, next time I'll kick your ass if you act so ….”

 

“Spike-like?” he asked with a half-smirk

 

Buffy smiled at him and said, “Exactly…now, we should keep walking, I wouldn’t want to find the ghost of Future Christmas on the next corner….”

 

Spike nodded, they started walking side by side, they both felt something big coming, something very powerful, they both felt, though, oddly calm, whatever was going to happen, they suddenly felt they weren’t going to face it alone.

 

 

~~*~~*~~*~~

 

< No…not again, please…not again>

 

Giles thought pulling Buffy’s lifeless body in his arms, kissing her still warm fore-head.

 

“I love you so much, Buffy…so much….” He whispered against her hair. He tilted his head up when he heard Willow’s sobs.

 

He closed his eyes; he didn’t need to see what was going to happen, in a few seconds Spike was going to turn into dust, breaking Willow’s heart.

 

 He pulled Buffy closer to him, he knew that soon darkness would engulf him, and those were the last moments he could hold the woman in his arms.

 

He could feel it coming, he already felt lightheaded and cold, so very cold.

 

He sighed and gave in to that dizziness, welcoming it, as the only moment of true peace he knew.

 

“We don’t have much time, Watcher, open your eyes….”

 

Giles opened his eyes, surprised. He blinked when he realized he wasn’t in his bedroom. He was still in the graveyard, but his surroundings had changed, gone were Willow, Xander, Anya and the bodies of the demons they had killed.

 

He was standing in front of a grave. His eyes filled with tears when he read the inscription on the headstone. It was Buffy's grave.

 

<What the hell is going on?>

 

He thought. A deep baritone voice from behind him answered to his silent question.

 

“Since they’ve been using your worst nightmare, I thought to use the other one…”

 

Giles turned toward the voice, leaning against a headstone there was a young man, he didn’t look much older than Xander.

 

He was very pale and was completely dressed in black, the man, whoever he was took some steps forward.

 

Giles’ knees gave out while he looked at the Headstone. He'd lived that scene so many times in his nightmares, yet something told him this wasn't a nightmare, something told him this was reality.

 

ELIZABETH ANNE SUMMERS

Beloved daughter and friend

1981 ~ 2001

 

"Oh, Buffy..." he sighed.

 

Only then did he realize he was holding something in a hand. He looked down at it. It was a rose, a beautiful blue sapphire rose, its thorns had pierced his palm's skin and it was bleeding. He placed the rose on the grave and looked at his bleeding hand

 

< Odd...it doesn't hurt>

 

He thought, closing it in a fist. He watched detached as rivulets blood trailed down his wrist.

 

The young man he had seen patted his shoulder, Giles turned and he handed him a tissue, saying, "You might want to wipe that blood away..."

 

"Why are you here and who the hell are you, anyway?" he asked, wincing when he pressed the tissue over the wound on his hand.

 

The man knelt in front of the headstone and traced with his fingers the inscription on it and said, "Tsk, tsk...such a tragedy..."

 

“Look, I am really not in the mood, for this…” Giles hissed.

 

“Temper, Rupert…I’m here to help…as I said we don’t have much time, I found a leak in their spell, and I used it…” he said getting up and looking at him.

 

“Who the hell are you?” Giles asked taking in his exotic features, the brown almond-shaped eyes, the greek nose. Although he looked young, he exuded a force, a charisma, a power much older than his body.

 

“I’m Eric, one of the Eletti, William asked for our assistance …”

 

Giles looked puzzled at the man, realization about what he had just said, dawning on him. He shook his head and took a deep breath before asking again, "Are you really here to help?”

 

Eric shrugged before saying, "I’m here to warn you…I can’t help you…you have to find a way out…"

 

Giles frowned and said, "We have been trying to!"

 

“Keep trying…you don’t have much time, and William and Buffy will be very busy when they find you”

 

“What can we do?” Giles asked.

 

“Do what you do best…use your brains, block out the pain and focus on the spell… ”

 

"The spell? Which kind of spell?" Giles asked.

 

“You know which ones…look at what’s happening to you and the red-headed witch…the solution is in what you’re living”

 

“How do you know about it?”

 

“Magic, Rupert…and a very good Eletti….”

 

“I thought the world didn’t have to know about you….”

 

“Particular circumstances require a certain flexibility, don’t you think?”

 

The vampire looked around, then turning toward Giles said, “I have to go, now…and so have you…”

 

"I suppose I have to…" he whispered. Another day of pain and sorrow.  Another day of fruitless research, only to have Buffy dying in his arms, again.

 

“Look Rupert, none of us is having fun, here…and what’s ahead of us is even worse…but you’re not alone…not any more….” Eric said, as if he had read his thoughts.

 

Giles nodded at his words and asked, “Will you protect Buffy? I won’t be able to…”

 

Eric smiled at him and said, “Don’t you remember? To stand against the darkness. To be the light within the darkness…to aid the Slayer in her…”

 

“Never ending battle against the darkness…to lighten her burden…” Giles finished for him.

 

“Exactly…” the vampire said.

 

Giles looked fascinated as the vampire slowly disappeared, his words still echoing in his mind. While darkness slowly engulfed Giles in its dark embrace, a smile crept on his lips.

 

For the fist time since that nightmare had begun, he felt hope.

 

The end was near, he could feel it.