20 minters later.
“Are we on time?” Spike asked, walking next to Giles.
“Yes it’s time.”
“Okay you all know you place’s… Remember the ritual starts…” Spike looked at the group around him. They’d been friends for years. Would it all end tonight? “We all die and I’ll kill anyone who gets near Dawn!” Spike exclaimed, before he walked passed them and out the door.
They had almost reached their destination when Spike turned to face Buffy. There were so many things he wished he could tell her. Tell her how thankful he was that she was willing to risk her life to save Dawns. Wished he could tell her how proud he was of her, she had endured hours of painful torture just to protect Dawn. He looked at her now and no longer saw an enemy, but a friend instead. And most importantly he wished their was a way to tell her how felt. He was falling in love with her.
“I want to thank you, luv, for trying.” He met her gaze. “It means a lot." He wanted to say more, but couldn't, fearing that if he did, he would be inadvertently saying goodbye. "I’m counting on you… To protect her,” Buffy nodded, smiling softly.
“Till the end of the world,” she replied, making Spike smile at her as they headed in.
The fight had been going for the last five minutes now and what a fight it was, Buffy hadn’t seen Spike since they had first arrived, but she knew he was probably keeping Glory busy, she just hoped he could stall her long enough so Glory would miss her window of opportunity.
“Has anyone else noticed that we are getting no where!” Anya exclaimed.
“Well its not all bad,” Willow said. “While its true that we haven’t gotten to Dawn, no one else had either,” she pointed out. Buffy looked up at the tower, something wasn’t right, she could feel it.
“Someone’s up there,” She said, looking over at Willow and Tara before back up at the tower.
“What? Who?”
“I don’t know,” Buffy‘s eyes narrowed. “Willow can you work a little magic? Clear the crowd?” Willow nodded taking Tara’s hand.
“Go!” She yelled just as Buffy took off running towards the crowd. She heard Willow yell "separate!", everyone blocking her way was pushed aside by an invisible source as Buffy ran up the stairs. She reached the top of the tower and gasped, seeing a man cutting into Dawn’s flesh. She watched as blood dripped from Dawn’s torso into the air, a portal started to open. She was too late. The portal was opening, but was their enough time to save Dawn?.
She walked towards the man that had stopped his ministrations, turning to face her. She heard him mumble something incoherently, before she pushed him aside, not even looking when he fell from the tower. She reached Dawn and untied her, slowly guiding her towards the stairs, Dawn stopped.
“Buffy, its started!” Buffy looked behind, watching creatures fly and jump out of the portal, she turned back to look at Dawn
“I’m sorry,” Dawn whispered.
“It doesn’t matter,” Buffy replied, tears in her eyes. Grabbing Dawn’s arm as she tried to run back the way they had just come. “What are you doing?!”
“I have to jump,”
“The energy will kill you!” Buffy exclaimed, trying to hold onto Dawn.
“I have to Buffy. Look at what’s happening. You have to let me go, or it will never stop. You know that“ Dawn smiled sadly. “It has to have blood.” At that moment Buffy remembered what Giles had told her.
"Dawn was made from both you and Spike" Buffy knew what she had to do, Dawn was a part of her and she finally understood how to stop it.
“I found out something today when the monks made you. They didn’t just use Spike’s blood, they used mine too…” Dawn looked confused. “Dawn do you trust me?”
“Of course I do.”
“Close your eyes,” she whispered, watching as Dawn closed her eyes. Lowering her face to Dawns neck, she vamped out and sank her teeth into her neck. She wasn’t surprised when the chip didn’t fire, she had no intention of hurting Dawn, only wanting to save her but to do that she needed Spikes blood too. She pulled back, letting her human guise come back as Dawn looked at her. “Your right. It will never stop until it has the blood and now it will have it.” Buffy glanced over Dawn’s shoulder at the swirling mass that was the portal.
“Buffy no!” Dawn gasped, realising what Buffy intended to do.
“Dawnie, I have to. If I don’t your brother will and I can’t let that happen,” tears formed in her eyes. “This world doesn’t need me, but it needs him. He still has work to do, give this to him for me,” she said, slipping off her leather duster and handing it to Dawn.
“No!” Dawn cried, shaking her head.
“Listen to me, please,” Dawn cried harder. “Listen, there’s not a lot of time left… I’ve been looking for a reason not to like myself for a long time and this is it…. Dawn I love you, I will always love you, but this is what I have to do…” She looked at the portal once more, before meeting Dawn’s gaze. “Tell everyone good bye for me, you have to take care of them… You have to take care of each other… Tell Spike-” Buffy broke off, not knowing what to say. “Tell him I love him. I could never tell him myself but I want him to know I love him so much… Dawn you have to be strong… The hardest thing in this world is to live in it… Be brave,” she whispered. “Live… for me!” She placed her hand on Dawns cheek, before placing a soft kiss on the same spot turning, she ran and leapt off the tower, her body jerking as the lightning hit her.
Spike watched from the ground as the portal closed. He didn’t know how or why but as he got closer to where his friends now stood realisation hit. It was her. Everything seemed to stop, time slowed as all his senses were tuned into one thing. Her motionless body, lying on a pile of rubble. Hearing his sisters sob, he looked to his right and watched Dawn descend the stairs. She had two small punctured holes in her neck, Buffy had combined Dawn’s blood and his to close the portal.
He let out a sob as he ran to Buffy’s body, he scooped her up into his arms as he began to shake her. “Come on luv wake up… Open your eyes for me,” Giles kneeled down next to him, laying a hand on her shoulder.
“Spike, she’s gone,”
“No, no if she was dead she would be dust!” He exclaimed, not accepting that Buffy was gone, tears ran down his face.
“Spike she jumped into a mystical portal, its not like being staked… There is no way she could have survived.” Spike shook his head ‘no’, still not accepting Buffy’s death. Giles looked down at the young man sympathetically, he had suspected towards the end that Spike was developing feelings for the blond vampire. His feelings went deeper than he appeared to have shown.
“No she’s strong she can get past this.”
“Spike there’s nothing left, all that she was is gone… Now there’s only a shell,” Spike couldn’t look at his friends. He knew that she was gone, he could feel it. He was looking right at her and he couldn’t feel her presence or smell her scent, it was all gone… It was like she wasn’t there at all.
All their was left for Spike to do was cry, as he held Buffy’s lifeless body to his chest. His friends watching on with sad eye‘s at the loss they‘d just suffered.
Back
Next