A/N: Recently revised; thanks to your feedback.

Chapter 28: End Game

Spike was nervous when the Slayer walked in to the mansion. He wasn’t sure how this was going to go down, whether or not Buffy had the stones to actually accomplish anything, or whether he would just be letting himself in for a whole world of trouble when things went south and Angelus killed her. Still, he kept his cool, sitting by placidly in his wheelchair until she made her move. Then the lure of getting some of his own back was too strong, and when the opportunity arose to get back at Angelus, he took it. Striking his Sire repeatedly with a crowbar allowed him to feel like a man for the first time in months.

Angelus had enjoyed tormenting him for months while he had been stuck in that bloody chair, prancing around with Dru and treating him like less than the dirt between his toes. And then he had the unmitigated gall to tell Spike that it had all been for his own good, all while dangling the possibility of the Slayer in front of him as if Spike’s affections were something his Sire could control.

Well, he had never fallen for it. Any of it. God it felt good to get some of his own back!

Despite his Sire’s machinations, Spike knew that his affections were firmly fixed on Dru. Always had been, and always would be.

If he kept telling himself that, he was sure to believe it sooner or later.

Dru was his destiny. Not some poxy Slayer who couldn’t tell her true love from a hole in the ground. Who was so easily fooled by the facile lies of his ponce of a Sire. Who accepted Spike as some kind of a consolation prize when her honey wasn’t around, or wasn’t man enough to satisfy her lusts.

If the Slayer were his he’d be damned if he’d share her with anyone. Stupid git didn’t know what he had, he had to throw it away with both hands. If Buffy had been his, he would never give her up for any reason. Without a soul or with one, Spike knew that he would love Buffy forever. If only she wanted him.

Now Angelus was going to get what he deserved, and Spike would take Drusilla away and try his damnedest to forget that any of this had ever happened. Forget that he had ever even met the Slayer.

All he had to do was convince Drusilla that things were better this way. Let alone the thought that he was going to have to convince himself. Staunchly he told himself that things were better this way. Better for all of them. Buffy didn’t need a vampire complicating her life. Making trouble between her and the Council. Besides, what was he to her anyway? Provided Angelus didn’t actually succeed and suck the world into hell, Buffy would barely even notice he was gone, she’d probably be mooning so hard over his bastard of a Sire. Spike didn’t think he could survive loving another woman who would never love him in return.

It was going to be bloody hard to win back Dru’s good graces, he thought, as he left his pitiful Sire slumped on the ground and struggled to subdue Drusilla. Dru had had no idea what the vampires had been up to behind her back, or that Angelus had planned to betray her. She’d never believe Spike even if he told her.

The Slayer was going to have to handle things on her own from here on out. Maybe she’d kill Angelus, or maybe he’d kill her. He staunchly told himself that he didn’t care. They had both used him. Neither of them had ever really cared for him at all. In that moment he wholeheartedly hoped that they’d both die, Buffy and Angelus. The world could be swallowed up by Acathla, or not, and he wouldn’t really care. He couldn’t feel any worse than he did now.

Spike looked over at Buffy and shrugged as he began to drag Drusilla’s prone body out of the hall and down to the garage. He didn’t care what the outcome of their fight was. Not one bit, until he noticed how she looked back at him.

Stunned, he tried to gauge whether the look on her face had been one of betrayal or not. Why would she feel that way? This was the bargain they had made after all. He had helped her surprise Angelus and free her Watcher. Now he was due his reward. He wasn’t about to change the plan now.

Barreling right through the garage door he gunned the motor of the old De Soto, trying to put as much distance between himself and this town as quickly as possible. He needed his life with Drusilla to get back to normal. He needed to forget. Whether the world ended or not, he needed to be someplace else. Someplace far away from Sunnydale and the memories it held.

~ ~

Buffy needed to forget. The past few months had been a nightmare, and this day had been the worst. She had tried not to be affected when Spike deserted her with his ho of a girlfriend, leaving her to fight Angelus on her own. She had tried not to let it crush her resolve when she had seen the change come over Angelus, and he had really and truly become Angel again.

As she rammed home the sword that would send him back to hell with Acathla, the guilt was overwhelming. All she could think was that he got what he deserved. After everything that he and his alter ego had put her through, she didn’t love him anymore.

She wasn’t a child anymore. She didn’t need a lover who thought his role was to guide and protect her as Angel had done, or who wanted to control and own her as Angelus had. She needed someone who could be her equal. Someone who would love her for who she was, not what she was. Someone who would respect her decisions, even if that decision was to leave Sunnydale and her role as the Slayer behind.

Let another girl be Called to take Kendra’s place. Let some one else defend the hellmouth. Or not. Buffy found she didn’t really care. Her mother had kicked her out of the house, and both men in her life had betrayed her. She was leaving Sunnydale.

Evil was everywhere, not just in one small town in California. She knew, she’d seen more than her fair share of it. She’d had enough. For now, she needed some time to be on her own. The pain was too fresh. She needed to forget. Now that the world was in no danger of ending, she needed to be someplace else. Someplace far away from Sunnydale and the memories it held.


End


Author’s note: There you are. We’ve come full circle. My thanks to those of you who kept with the story to the end, and especially those of you who left reviews (Please feel free to leave another one now. I wonder if the ending took you by surprise, and hope that it didn’t let you down too much.) I know some of you complimented me on such an original AU story. I never saw it that way. I think this is totally possibly and quite probably what really went on behind the scenes of the show we all saw. For you purists, the only thing I changed was the placement of the episode “Passions.” I think it makes more sense right before “Becoming.” Don’t you?