The next evening, Spike followed Hiku’s directions to Halape Beach. The road was dark, and he was glad Buffy had rented him an all-terrain vehicle since most of the road was unpaved. He parked the Jeep by a grove of Koa trees and got out.

“Here’s to a fair trial,” he whispered to the skies.

He walked down the road on his map, sat, and waited.

The moon was high in the sky and illuminated the waves and the beach. The air was still, and Spike was feeling a little apprehensive.

Suddenly, he heard a drumbeat and then another. He wasn’t sure if he had adrenaline in his body, but if he did, it was pumping furiously. He jumped to his feet to await his trials.

He didn’t have long to wait before he saw two rows of warriors marching towards him. There must have been about twenty. They were dressed in war attire with paint and tattoos adorning their skin. They carried spears, swords, and knives. They marched down the beach until they came to Spike and then they stopped.

The warrior with the most decorated, tattooed chest stepped forward and said, “Are you prepared to die for what you wish?”

“Yes,” Spike replied confidently. “I am ready to face whatever ya throw my way. I want to walk in the sunlight with my love, and I’m willin’ to fight for it.”

The warrior clapped his hands and said, “Let the trials begin. If you complete all three trials successfully, then you will be granted your wish. If you do not, you will die.” He clapped his hands again and shouted, “Let us begin.”

Immediately, the marchers formed a large circle. In the center were Spike and a large warrior. He was about 7 feet tall and outweighed Spike by about two hundred pounds at least. He carried a wooden spear and pointed to the ground next to Spike. There laid a spear for Spike to use.

Spike grabbed the spear and began circling around the warrior. They both lunged at each other, but due to his bulk, the warrior was not as quick on his feet as Spike. Spike missed his first lunge but quickly regrouped and pivoted on the spot and stuck the warrior in the head with the spear. The warrior disappeared into the air with a loud whoosh.

Spike, a little surprised at how easily he dispatched the large warrior, was anxiously awaiting what the Night Marchers threw at him next. He may have passed the first trial quickly, but he knew the next one would not be as easy.

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Meanwhile, back at the Inn, Buffy was pacing back and forth in her room, wearing a hole in the rug.

“Buff, relax - he’s gonna do fine. If Spike could make it through the trials to get his soul back, then he can definitely do this.” Dawn was sitting on the sofa, flipping through channels. She didn’t want Buffy to know she was just as anxious as she was. “Hey, why don’t we go to the inn’s hot-spring tubs? I hear they are heated from the steam of Kilauea. Very relaxing.”

“How can you think of relaxing, Dawn? I’m going nuts thinking about what Spike must be going through right now. What if they don’t think he’s a worthy warrior?”

“Stop that negative thinking right now - you know Spike is a worthy warrior. He’s proved himself a champion more than once. Come on, put on your suit and let’s go try to relax. It will make the time go by quicker.”

Dawn went off to change into a bathing suit and met Buffy at the hot-spring tub. At least they could relax their muscles while they were waiting.

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The head warrior now told Spike he must go into the cave behind the Koa trees and withstand whatever was in there for the allotted time.

As Spike walked into the darkened cave, he was doused with a shower of water. The water had a sweet smell to it, and that was when Spike realized he had been covered in sugar water. He was given a torch, but it didn’t shed much light. Suddenly, he felt something crawling up his legs. He shook his leg and pointed the torch down to the ground. “Oh bugger!” Spike hissed. The ground was covered with cane spiders, cockroaches the size of his hand, and foot-long centipedes, whose bite could inject enough poison into the body to kill a man twice Spike’s size. He could feel the bites of the spiders as they climbed up his body, nipping at the sugar water.

He remembered he was wearing his Doc Martens and started to stomp on the ground, killing some of the bugs but not many. He could feel his arms and thighs begin to swell from the numerous bites. He swatted at his chest and tried to prevent them from crawling up, but it was useless - they were ascending at too quick a rate. He thought he was going to be sick when he felt the bite of a centipede on his face, but he continued to swat away as many as he could . No part of his body was untouched. He could even feel them attacking his manly bits. When he didn’t think he could take anymore, there was a loud clamor, and he was back outside the cave again.

“Well done. You passed the test of bravery. Not once did you shout out but you kept your wits about you. Are you ready for the third and final trial? This will test both your bravery and skills as a warrior.” The lead Marcher pointed with his hand to a clearing.

Spike took a step forward towards it. Out from behind the trees leapt a large warrior. He carried no weapons, and this caused Spike to hold steady - something was up. Just as he was going forward to face the warrior, the man cupped his hands together and formed a ball of fire, which he hurled at Spike.

“Oi, now there’s the trick. I have to beat another fire warrior like in the trials for my soul. I’ve done it before, so this shouldn’t be a problem.”

Spike did not know that what the warrior was throwing was actually hot lava. Whereas fire when thrown would die out, lava continued to burn. This posed the unusual problem of causing the two-thousand degree lava to land on the sand and continue to burn, thereby decreasing the amount of space he had to fight in.

Spike tried to dodge the hurtling lava as best as he could while at the same time avoiding stepping on it while on the ground. He was becoming trapped in a circle of fire when suddenly he had a brilliant idea. He began to back out of the circle, towards the ocean. Soon, he was standing in knee-deep water. The lava warrior followed him to the water, still hurling lava at him, except now it would fizzle out when it hit the water. Spike had more room to maneuver, and he was able to hook the leg of the warrior and push him into the water face-down. He then jumped on his back, effectively pushing his face into the sand and suffocating him.

All of a sudden, Spike heard the beat of the drums from the Night Marchers. The “Lava Warrior,” as Spike called him, had disappeared, and he was standing in the ocean alone. Spike walked out to the head warrior.

“You have proven yourself a brave warrior. Your wish will be granted.” He held out his empty hand and a poof of smoke encompassed it. When the smoke cleared, there laid a piece of lava rock with a sketch of a man and a sun on it. The stone was pierced with a hole in which a silver chain ran through it. “Wear this around your neck when you venture into the sunshine, and you will be protected from it. If you remove it, the protection will end. You do not need to wear it during the night, for you are one of us now, and when you hear the beat of our drums, you will feel our presence and protection.”

Spike took the chain and put it around his neck. It felt cool and smooth against his chest. He held out his hand to the warrior, and it was grasped firmly by him. They looked into each other’s eyes with respect. As Spike let go of the warrior’s hand, the Night Marchers started their drumbeat again and continued to walk down the beach. Spike watched them until they faded from his sight.

A/N: We're almost done with this tale. Again thanks to Allison and Klemptor for being great betas.