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“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.
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