Notes: So I didn’t want to make this all lyrics-ey, because more often than not that comes out cheesy. Instead, I will be inserting a few couplets, or sometimes nothing at all, at some points when they sing, and hopefully it won’t be too much of a mess… :D It does read differently than most of the other chapters, though.

Oh, and some lyrics and a lot of the end dialogue taken from “Once More With Feeling,” with thanks to the Buffyverse Dialogue Database for their transcripts!




--

“…On my own, to everyone it’s all the same
I know I deserve it, but does there need to be such pain…”

Buffy sang. She sang of loneliness, of guilt, and of how she lacked direction.

And only once she staked the last vampire that had been singing backup did she let herself wonder where it had come from. She hadn’t been having the best day, true, but had that really warranted a mental breakdown?

She frowned, searching for the tombstone where she’d left the textbook she’d gotten in anticipation for her GED. She’d spent the whole afternoon trying to register for some GED preparation classes being held at UC Sunnydale, and had been so frustrated by the process that she’d needed to kill something before she got home, or Faith and Dawn might not have made it through the night. Now, at least, she was relaxed, albeit puzzled.

“Having fun?”

She turned to smile at Spike. “Hey. Been here long?”

He nodded. “Long enough. Was it just me, or were you…?”

“Singing?” Buffy finished. “Trust me, I’m just as confused. One second I was walking through the cemetery, the next, I’m belting out a song about…” Her voice trailed off. “Stuff.”

“Yeah.” His eyes seemed to bore through her, and she looked away, flushing. “I heard.”

He tossed her the textbook she’d been searching for, and she caught it with ease. “Thanks. Are you...uh…do you want to patrol some more?”

“Can’t.” He nodded toward the cemetery gate. “I told Faith that I’d meet her for patrol tonight. I’ve got to get to Shady Hill.”

“Oh.” She sighed, disappointed. “Well, have fun. Keep an eye out for other singers.”

“Will do, pet.” he smiled softly and walked off.

Buffy watched him go, feeling a pang. It was okay. It wasn’t like she’d specifically come to Restfield in the hopes of running into him. No. Not at all.

--

The second the music started playing, Spike cursed inwardly and clamped his mouth shut. But it was too late.

Spike sang. He sang about two Slayers, so different and yet so alike. He sang of his attraction to both, and the role he currently played in one’s life. Then he sang of the other, the golden-haired, green-eyed warrior who had somehow stolen his heart, and made him, for the first time since Drusilla had left, feel whole. And when he was done, he slumped against the side of the closest crypt, gasping for unneeded breath.

How had he let this happen? It had crept up on him when he hadn’t put up a defense, because he hadn’t expected his lust for the Slayer to mutate into something this huge. He’d gotten too involved, cared too much…

Caring hadn’t been a problem with Faith. Oh, she cared about him. And he cared about her. But they had a friendship, nothing deeper. No huge emotions to deal with, no pesky love. When she’d died, he’d mourned with his friends, but he hadn’t felt like he, personally, had lost something. He wouldn’t cry for Faith.

But by nature, he was and always would be love’s bitch, and he was ruled by his passions. And passion was something he’d never really had with Faith, not out of the bedroom. Well, or crypt. Not this burning feeling inside that made him want to grab Buffy, pull her to him, and never let her go.

He fumbled for a cigarette with shaking hands and exhaled gratefully. I am so utterly fucked.

--

“I would know if we were under a spell,” Willow insisted. “I’d sense it.”

“M-Maybe it’s s-someone really strong,” Tara suggested. They were seated at the Magic Box, waiting for the others to arrive. “S-stronger than you?” That was playing with fire, she knew, but she was gambling on Willow just brushing it off instead of getting angry.

Thankfully, she was right. “And I wouldn’t notice that someone like that was in my town?” Willow snorted. “What are the odds?” She checked her watch. “Where is everyone? I wish-“

Anya perked up from her spot behind the counter, where she’d been completely immersed in counting money. “Yes?”

“-They’d hurry up,” Willow finished. “Something’s going on.”

“So it wasn’t just Xander and me!” Anya put down her money and joined them at the table. “With the singing, and the harmonies, and the wedding dress…”

“W-wedding dress?” Tara asked, but she was cut off by the arrival of the rest of the group. Beside her, she could feel Willow tensing at the sight of Buffy. Buffy smiled at them tentatively, and Willow glowered.

Speculation began almost immediately, invariably as a song, too.

“…I’ve got a theory we should work this fast
Because it clearly could get serious before it’s past…”

Faith sang about unity next, and how they could face anything together. Tara couldn’t help but notice that Buffy wasn’t singing at all, and her heart went out to the other girl. She wasn’t part of their “together,” no matter how hard she tried. Not yet.

The day continued, and tensions were running high as they all researched together with no success.

“I don’t see why we’re not getting any customers today,” Anya grumbled. “You’d think they all be rushing to the Magic Box to find out what’s going on.”

“Well, this is Sunnydale,” Xander pointed out. “This is pretty normal for us.”

“Beats the mass laryngitis,” Faith agreed, and they all laughed.

“Mass laryngitis?” Buffy asked. “Sounds interesting.”

“You must’ve missed it,” Faith said coldly, and Tara ducked her head, unwilling to take part in the cruel exercise. No one was going to subvert Faith’s authority, not in front of her. Not even when she was bullying one of their own.

And Buffy was one of their own now, even if she wasn’t part of the team, per se, Tara realized, as Buffy herself flushed and went back to her book. Faith might pick on Buffy, but she couldn’t make her leave, not anymore.

“How about this?” Buffy suggested, holding out her book to Willow, beside her.

Willow gave her a contemptuous look, and the words escaped her in song. “That’s ridiculous!”

“I was only trying to help…” Buffy sang plaintively, and the two burst into a duet.

Willow and Buffy sang. Willow sang about power, intoxicating, filling her with life and energy and everything she’d wanted since she was young and useless. She sang about anger and her hatred of Buffy for how Buffy had left them, years before. Buffy sang about missing her best friend and wishing she could have her back.

“Well, you gave that up long ago!” Willow finished triumphantly, and Buffy fled.

Instinctively, Tara rose to follow her new friend, but she found herself hitting what felt like a wall of air. “Go after her and you’ve chosen your side,” Willow remarked offhandedly.

Tara’s eyes widened, and she turned to the other Scoobies to check their reactions. She was pretty sure they didn’t know that Willow had blocked her with magic, but Giles still looked concerned. Xander, Anya, and Dawn were all gaping at Willow’s ultimatum. Even Faith seemed taken aback.

“J-just g-g-g-going to the b-basement,” Tara said hesitantly.

“Good.” Willow immersed herself in her book again, letting the air-wall she’d created drop.

As soon as Tara was down the stairs, panting with something between horror and tears, she let the song out. Because even though she couldn’t remember it ever happening before, Willow was acting as though this control over her girlfriend was natural. And it felt familiar to her…far too familiar for that to have been the first time it had happened.

Tara sang. She sang of the desire to find herself, be the person that she could be. She sang of how she’d known that she had a life beyond demonic for a year now, and yet she still found herself swallowed up in someone else. She sang of the witch she’d met two years before, and where had Willow gone? Where was the Willow she’d once loved, and was it worth it to stay with the monster so she wouldn’t lose the girl?

And when she was finished singing, she wept.

Willow, near the steps, overheard her sobs and went downstairs. She murmured a few words and fingered something in her pocket.

Tara smiled at her, the tears gone as though her sorrows had been forgotten. And they had.

--

Faith came down to Spike’s crypt later the next day. “So, you heard about the singing?”

He nodded. “’ve done some of my own, too. It’s a nightmare.”

She smirked. “Tell me about it. I spent half the afternoon listening to the musical stylings of Anya Jenkins and Xander Harris. I think at this point, they’re just trying to stay away from each other until this…thing…is over.”

Spike tilted his head in concern. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Just the airing of much dirty laundry on both their parts.” She snickered. “Anya’s still mad at him that I popped his cherry.”

Spike shook his head. “You should never have told her that, love.”

“Well, it was going to come out sometime.” Faith gave him an unconcerned shrug. “Better sooner than later, huh?”

“And sooner was at prom?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Faith smirked. “Well, I was pissed. I thought that I was going with Xander, since the rich-bitch was out of the picture, but Anya asked him before he could ask me.” She grinned. “Course, it’s better this way. We probably would’ve ended up dating, and for a Slayer like me…” She slunk up next to him, breathing in his ear, “It might be a little…hard…to be with someone who can’t match my…energy.”

He should have just reacted, slept with her, and everything would have been fine. But he was still wracked with confusion about how deep the feelings he’d discovered ran within him, and he wasn’t up for some emotionally empty sex. Not now. So he shrugged her off. “You should get back to work. People are burning an’ all that.”

But it was Faith, and so she called him on it. “What the hell, Spike? Are you turning me down?” she demanded incredulously.

“’M just not in the mood.”

“You’re always in the mood!” Faith said angrily. “I swear, if this is a Buffy thing…”

He could feel the song, bursting from him before he could stop it, and he ran.

--

Dawn sang. She sang of loneliness and being overlooked, and was so absorbed in it that when the demon’s minions came for her, she couldn’t even dare to fight back.

Giles sang. He sang as he trained with his first Slayer, and realized that it was time to let her be her own adult. And by the end, he knew that it was time to go.

Tara sang. She sang after she found the Lethe’s Bramble in Willow’s pocket while doing laundry and remembered seeing it before, many times. She sang of the horror of being raped of memory, and that that was something she couldn’t overlook.

They all sang, although singing was the last thing they felt like doing.

--

Spike came into the Magic Box just after the music stopped, towing a demon minion.

“My master has the Slayer’s sister hostage at the Bronze…”

Buffy was out the door in seconds, brushing past Faith as she entered the store.

“What’s her deal?” Faith demanded, scowling out at Buffy’s retreating back.

“Dawn’s in trouble,” Spike filled her in. “We’ve got to get to the Bronze.” He moved to leave, but she shoved him away.

“I don’t want your help, Spike,” she snapped, and followed the other Slayer out the door.

The rest of the Scoobies blinked at each other.

“We’d better go,” Giles decided. And they went after their Slayers, singing all the way.

--

“So this is it?” Faith demanded as soon as she caught up with Buffy.

Buffy turned, startled. “Faith! Your sister’s being held hostage. We need to-“

“We don’t need anything,” Faith informed her. “I’ll take care of Dawn.”

“You need backup!” Buffy insisted. “I like Dawn. I want to help!”

Faith laughed bitterly. “Oh, sure. Help.”

Then she was singing to Buffy, and her innermost fears were revealed to her sister Slayer.

“…You’re taking them away from me,
I was just a replacement, I always knew;
Why can’t you just let it be,
You have to take my sister, too?”

Faith sang. She sang of fitting in, of being a somebody, and of the fears she had of losing it all now that the old Slayer was back.

And when she was finished, Buffy backed away, feeling a sudden kinship with the other girl, and let her go.

--

The Scoobies reached the Bronze in time to hear Faith singing again, this time while the crimson demon watched avidly.

Faith sang. She sang of heaven, and the hopelessness that she felt at learning what her eternity would be. She sang of the hell that heaven became for someone like her, and what point was there in trying when death held no rewards?

And fairly soon, she was spinning and twirling, having completely given up.

Buffy saw it from afar as she stepped into the Bronze, saw the others all frozen in place as they processed Faith’s admission, and raced forward to catch her, throwing her to safety and taking her place on the dance floor.

The demon gestured, and very suddenly, Buffy was caught in the dance, too. She spun, faster and faster and faster…

Spike caught her, his song a murmur as he gently set her still. She met his eyes, and they stood silently, she still in his arms. Faith watched from the side, her eyes darkening in suspicion.

The demon leaned back, a bit bemused. “Now that was a show-stopping number. Not quite the fireworks that I was looking for.”

“Get out of here,” Willow hissed. Buffy wondered to herself if Willow would have cared if she’d died. But no, she so wasn’t going there.

The demon grinned. “Mm, I smell power.” He stood, extending a hand to Dawn. “I guess the little missus and I should be on our way.”

“Like hell you are!” Faith said furiously, drawing a stake and stepping forward.

Sweet chuckled. “I don’t make the rules. She summoned me.”

“I so did not!” Dawn objected. She turned to the others. “He keeps saying that.”

Sweet reached out to stroke the necklace she wore. “You have my talisman on, sweet thing.”

“This?” Dawn said, dismayed. “I stole it from the Magic Box yesterday, after the music started. I didn’t activate it or anything!”

“Dawnie!” Anya looked horrified. “We talked about this! You leave your delinquencies to other stores, not my shop!”

“Not now, Anya,” Giles said, tense. “If it was in the shop… then one of us probably…”

From behind him, Xander raised his hand tentatively.

“Xander!” Anya said reproachfully.

Xander shrugged self-consciously. “Well, I didn't know what was going to happen! I just thought there were going to be dances and songs. Everything’s been so tense! I just wanted to make sure we'd... we'd get a happy ending.”

Several faces softened in understanding. The demon just laughed. “I think everything worked out just fine.”

“Does this mean I have to…” Xander gulped. “Be your queen?”

Anya turned to the demon in sudden terror. Faith snorted. Buffy and Spike shared a grin.

The demon winked at him. “It's tempting. But I think we'll waive that clause just this once.” He spread his hands in exaggerated helplessness. “Big smiles everyone! You beat the bad guy.”

He sang a farewell song that Buffy didn’t really catch. Something about seeing them all in hell. Then there was an awkward silence.

Dawn walked to the stage steps, breaking the quiet with a tentative song.

“Where do we go from here?”

Pretty soon, Spike had lost patience with the faux-cheeriness of the song and departed without so much as a goodbye. Buffy followed, avoiding Faith’s sharp glare.

“Hey.”

He turned back to nod to her. “Hey.”

She smiled softly. “Thanks for…you know, saving my life and all.”

“Well, you keep things interesting,” he said gruffly, turning away.

She caught his chin and rested her hand on his face gently, turning it to face him. “So do you.”

And then they were moving closer, their eyes locked and their lips millimeters from each other, and Buffy knew that everything was going to change. Her eyes drifted closed and her lips touched-

-His finger? She stared up at him in confusion.

He shook his head sadly, his finger still stopping her from moving any closer. “I can’t. Not now. You just saved Faith’s life.”

“So?” Buffy asked plaintively, hating how needy she sounded but needing it nonetheless.

Spike stroked her lips with his finger, his eyes hooded with regret. “I won’t blow your chances, love. Not at finally working things out with Faith.”

He kissed her on the cheek, resting his lips there for what felt like forever before he finally stepped away. “I’ll see you?”

“Yeah,” she managed, blinking back the sudden moisture in her eyes. “See you.”

He vanished into the night and she sank to the ground. She’d won tonight, and for the first time since she’d gotten back, she’d really made a difference. So why did she feel like she’d lost?