Strip Snap 33

Choices


Buffy Summers stared round the gloomy basement wondering why in such a normal, everyday place, her life was on the verge of finishing. Outside the bars of the cage Xander had built to keep Demon under control, everything looked so ordinary. There was still a pile of laundry waiting to go in the dryer, a clutter of paints and cardboard on a table where Dawn had been making something for a school project, pipes gurgled and chugged across the ceiling and a draught of cold air blew down the stairs from the open doorway.

Yes, just an ordinary basement, except for a cage, her sister clutching the bars outside and the three men she loved most in all the world struggling to live. William’s spirit had gone from her body back into his own, but although Spike and Demon had gone from her, too – and she could have cried at their loss - their bodies lay still and silent.

“Spike! Demon! Answer me. Oh god, please answer me.” Buffy called again inside her head, her lips moving in silent anguish. William had rolled over and was sitting up, leaning against the cage bars, holding his head as if in pain. But at least he was alive and there. The other two still lay on the ground, motionless.

Buffy knelt between them, frantically patting Spike’s face. “Come on, Spike! Come on. You’re there, I know you are. You’re not dead. I won’t allow you to be dead.”

“Buffy…” Dawn’s voice was faint and worried.

“Not now, Dawnie. Please.” She bent over Spike’s body and cupping his face in her hands, pressed her lips to his. They were icy cold and for the first time ever, there was no response to her kiss.

“Buffy…” Dawn forced the name through her lips. She’d never imagined, never believed she could ever feel like this. The world was spinning around her and she reached out blindly for the one person she trusted to make it all stop.

“What!” Buffy spun round, almost snarling the words and then stopped. Dawn was kneeling outside the cage, but as she’d fired the dividing rod at Buffy, she’d stretched her arms inside the bars. Now she was staring at her sister, her eyes huge in her pale face.

“I feel – odd – weird. As if – Buffy, I think they’re inside my head! Spike and Demon. I can’t – oh no – oh, it’s horrid. Make them go away! Buffy!” She fell writhing on the floor, clutching her head, her long dark hair flicking back and forwards as she rolled across the floor.

Buffy gazed at her, dread and understanding beginning to appear on her face. William rubbed his fists childishly into his eyes, like a small boy wishing he could wake up from a bad dream. “Miss Buffy, they are inside Miss Dawn. I can feel them there.”

Buffy left Spike and Demon and crawled out of the cage. She wrapped her arms round her sister’s body and rocked her in her arms. “Omigod. Dawn, I never meant for that to happen. Sshh, sshh, I’ll sort it out. Lay still, Dawnie. They won’t hurt you. They’d never hurt you. They love you.”

Dawn gave a shudder and clung convulsively to Buffy. When she spoke her voice was thready and very young. “I know they won’t hurt me, but Buffy, it’s – it’s so horrible. They’re – inside me!”

Buffy swayed with the conflicting emotions that crushed through her. Relief that Spike and Demon weren’t dead, there was still a chance of saving the man she loved, but a vast pity and anger at what Dawnie was experiencing. Dawn was too young for this – god, she was still a virgin! This feeling of being possessed, that someone, some things were inside you was more than a violation. How the hell had this happened?

“William?” She turned imploring eyes on the vampire whom she liked but did not love. “What do I do now?”

He crawled across the cage and took her place next to Spike and Demon, gently pulling their bodies closer to him so their heads rested on his knees. The tight platinum curls and greasy hair were stroked with identically tender actions. “Miss Buffy, I think you have to fire the dividing rod again, this time at Miss Dawn. Somehow they were transported into her. Some of these magics seem very unpredictable. But Spike and Demon must return to their own bodies – at once. I only just managed to hold on which you were holding us and they are both now very weak.”

Buffy clutched Dawn tighter as the teenager writhed in her arms. “Why is it hurting her so much? It didn’t hurt me – in fact – “ she hesitated and then at the look of encouragement on his face, whispered, “It was marvellous. I felt - fulfilled. Complete.”

William looked through the bars of the cage at the two sisters, his blue eyes darkening. “I’m not sure but I would imagine possession like this is only for those who have a deep, intimate involvement. Miss Dawn is too young, too innocent. She cannot accept them in the way you accepted us. This wasn’t a choice she made willingly; this was thrust upon her. She may not want to fight in her head, but her body tells her otherwise.”

Buffy reached out and picked up the rod, staring at it suspiciously. “I wonder how much power is left in this thing? Could I hurt Dawn, damage her some more in some way?”

William shook his head. “I know nothing of such things, Miss Buffy. But of one thing I am certain – if you do nothing then Spike and our Demon brother – they will die. Indeed, it may already be too late. But if you use the magic you could save our brothers and kill Miss Dawn.”

“What?”

William looked up at her, the face Spike’s, the expression of loving pity etched on it was all his own. “I cannot tell you what to do. But whatever it is, do it quickly, please. I can hardly feel Spike and Demon.”

Buffy put the dividing rod down on the ground. How could she possibly dare fire it at Dawn? The power generated could kill her sister. Who knew what difference her magical beginnings would make if she absorbed all that energy.

Dawn had stopped tossing and turning; she was curled up in a ball, whimpering, great shudders convulsing her body. Holding her tight, Buffy reached out with her mind. All three had claimed her, she had claimed them back. They were one. By touching Dawn she could reach for them, feel Spike once more; experience that wonderful sense of love and belonging. Then Dawn gasped and Buffy stopped.

No, she couldn’t! Even to say goodbye, she couldn’t enter Dawn’s poor mind and make things even worse. And she knew, with a surge of despair that she couldn’t risk Dawn’s life for her own gain. Soon Spike and Demon would be gone and Dawn would recover.

“Buffy…” Dawn raised her head, her dark eyes pools of pain and hurt.
“I’m sorry…I’ve let you all down…I just can’t….”

Buffy hushed her. “You’ve let no one down, Dawn. I’m proud of you, what you’ve done tonight. Just lie still. It’ll….it’ll be better soon. I promise.” She hugged her sister to her, unaware that tears were splashing down onto the teenager’s face.

Dawn struggled round and sat up. What she was experiencing was scary, dreadful, she wanted to die, but the sight of Buffy crying was far more terrifying. “What do you mean? Why aren’t you using the rod thingy to get them out?”

Buffy tried to sound calm and in control, even though she was screaming inside. “No, I can’t. I don’t know what it’ll do to you. This shouldn’t have happened, but it has, so we’ve got to – well, just wait.”

Dawn grabbed her hand. “Wait for them to die, you mean?”

Buffy struggled to keep her face and voice under control. There was no way she wanted Dawn to feel any guilt. None of this was her fault. She’d come when they called; she’d helped without question or complaint. Buffy felt a flood of hate course through her. No it was Willow and Xander who were to blame. The so-called friends who’d walked away, left Spike and William to their fate, condemned them.

“There’s no choice, Dawnie. I can’t risk your life.”

“You made me risk yours!”

“That was different.”

“No, it wasn’t. Buffy – don’t make me the reason Spike dies. Nothing will be the same again if you do that. You know that’s true. We’ve lost mom, I lost you for a while and now you’re back but don’t make me lose Spike, now. It isn’t fair!”

Buffy found herself trying not to smile. The adult words had ended with a wail of teenage anger. But whatever Dawn wanted, however right she was in some ways, however desperately Buffy wanted Spike back, she knew she couldn’t risk her sister’s life.

She picked up the dividing-rod and was about to turn and hand it back to William, to get it out of harm’s way when it happened. From under the long curtain of dark hair that fell across her face, Dawn was watching Buffy’s every move. The second the rod was pointing in her direction, her hand shot out and clamped down on top of Buffy’s.

With a brilliant flash, the rod fired, straight at Dawn. Buffy screamed and tossed the rod aside as her sister convulsed and collapsed into her arms.

“Dawn! Dawn! Answer me. Omigod, Dawn. Wake up because you are now grounded for months! How dare you do that? How dare you?”

A gentle moan reached her and with a gasp, Dawn’s eyes flickered open.
“Buffy? It’s OK. I’m OK. Spike – Demon – are they back?”

Buffy turned and the two sisters stared into the cage. William was on his feet now, gazing down at the bodies on the floor. And as they watched, Spike groaned and rolled over. He was alive.

Dawn gently prised Buffy’s fingers from her shoulder. “Go check him out,” she said. “Make sure he’s OK. I’m fine.”

Buffy threw her a look of endless gratitude. She knew she’d never be able to repay her sister for this gift. Then two strides took her back inside the cage and she was on her knees beside Spike, reaching out to touch his face. He looked desperately tired, strained and even paler than usual, but he was back. Her lover and now her soul mate.

He gazed into her eyes but didn’t speak. He just nodded. Buffy turned to touch Demon. She could tell he was back as well, although he was still unconscious, muttering words that were hard to understand. As she watched, Spike’s hand cupped the back of her neck and she laid her head against him, revelling in the sensation of his fingers on her skin.

They were all back! Her boys, her family, all together again. She reached out to hold Demon’s filthy hand. “Don’t worry. We won’t abandon you. You belong to us. We’ll find a way to make you better.”

He could hear Buffy speaking, knew the woman he loved was close by. He tried to open his eyes and couldn’t. He tried to speak and couldn’t make the words sound sensible. Why didn’t William help? Couldn’t he see? Surely he must know, feel, understand what had happened.

With an effort that almost cost him everything, he forced his eyes open a fraction. And what he saw was what he had feared. Buffy was locked in Spike’s arms. But he, Spike, was here inside Demon’s body. And Demon was inside his!

tbc