Broken 1

“Hey Slayer, I’ve got a message for you.” A short pink furry demon popped up in front of me as I turned the corner to the cemetery. “Give Glory the key or she’ll destroy you and all your little friends.”

“Let me get this straight, she’s sending Muppets to threaten me now. Oh let me guess, if I don’t do what she wants she’ll get me and my little dog too.” I grabbed it by the throat and squeezed until I felt better. “Tell Glory if she so much as breathes on me or mine, I’ll gut her skanky ass and then tap dance on her fucking heart, if the tacky bitch has one.” I pulled it closer to my face and hissed “And tell your little friends hiding in the bushes, only one of you needs to make it back to her with the message. I’m giving you three seconds and then I start living up to my name.” They took off squealing. Despite what the others think I do read all those books of Giles’, I knew the pink demons were harmless. They’re called Ghourami and they live off goldfish. I figure the world won’t end if I leave the non-hostiles alone. Now, I sound like the damned Initiative. The rest of the night progressed fairly quickly, only three vamps rose and not a one of them put up a decent fight. Dawn and Willow were sitting in the living room when I got home.

“Hey Sis, Will thinks you’re mad at her, I told her you’re still getting over Riley.” Dawn likes to believe Riley left to save the world. I haven’t had the heart to tell her what really happened. Willow had her apology face on, puppy dog eyes and all. I shrugged and sat down on the arm of the couch.

“Hey, Buffy I missed you. I mean we all missed you. You haven’t been around lately. I know you miss Riley, but that’s no reason to go all depressed and hide. We’re worried about you and there’s still that whole thing with Glory to deal with. We could use some help researching her origins. The council gave us some leads, but we still need to figure out a way to kick her butt. It’s hard getting past a breakup but life goes on…” Her voice trailed off at my low growl of frustration, apology face or not I was not about to be nagged by someone who had no idea what I’d been going through, what I’m always going through.

“Dawn, go upstairs it’s late and I need to talk to Willow alone.” For once Dawn didn’t argue, she just took off upstairs. I got up and gestured for Will to follow me into the kitchen. I had a few things to say, and I didn’t want my yelling to wake my mom. I’ve never really had a fight with Willow, but the last shreds of my somewhat limited patience were slipping and this was the last straw.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? We this, we that I don’t give a damn what we think or we want. I’m the one that’s condemned to be a freak until the day I die. Which hey, could be tomorrow or the next day! I’m the one that’s going to have to fight Glory, and I gotta tell you she’s kicked my ass both times. I’m not real hopeful about surviving this one. As for it being hard to deal with a breakup, that’s not why I haven’t been around. I haven’t been around because I have other shit to worry about besides him. I’m so sick of everyone telling me about Riley, he didn’t leave because of me, he left because he couldn’t handle life on a hell mouth. He couldn’t handle me not being some weak whiny bitch that needed rescuing every five minutes. He left because his damn ego wasn’t getting stroked enough. Now you’re in my face and I need to tell you something, stop cramming your needs down my throat. I’m sick of all of you, you’re my friends when it’s convenient. You want me to be strong and happy all the time and that’s just not going to fucking happen. Everyone else gets to be happy and have a normal life. You get to be with the ones you love. I have to sacrifice the only person I ever loved, to save a world that doesn’t give a damn about me. See, I’m the Chosen One and that means I live fast and die miserable. I have a limited amount of time and a limited amount of patience and you’ve worn out your ration of both. Now, do me a favor and get the fuck out of my face. Go play with Tara, preferably in traffic.” She just stood there staring at me and crying her eyes out. I felt better for getting it all off my chest but I hadn’t really meant to make her cry. The clapping made us both jump.

“Bravo pet, well done. I must say I’ve been wondering when you’d see things my way. Hey Red, bet you weren’t expecting that when they sent you to bring her back. Last time you volunteer for a rescue mission ‘ay? “ Spike had slipped in the back door during my little tirade and looked oddly pleased.

“Rescue mission?” Willow had the grace to look embarrassed. She also managed to cry harder.

“Oh yeah, they…” Spike jerked his thumb at Willow angrily “They decided you were going off the rails like you did after Peaches took his little trip south. Would you believe they had a meeting? Took a vote and all, like some damn committee. She was supposed to remind you of your duty and obligations to the world.”

“Aah, so you didn’t miss me, you just needed me to cover your ass. I should have known. Get out of my house.” She stopped crying, and you could see resolve face settling in.

“No Buffy, it wasn’t like that. We thought… I thought you just needed some space, but Xander kept insisting you were all torn up. We failed you after…after the thing Spike said. I didn’t want you to think no one cared, but I was kind of pissed you weren’t talking me, and I never realized you were starting to hate us. And, oh I’m so sorry.” She was trembling a little as she reached for my hand.

“Really?” I let her pull me over to sit at the table. I wasn’t ready to let her off the hook, but yelling at her left me feeling calm and slightly empty.

“Yeah, I never let myself think about you dying, and I guess no one else does either. You know we want you to be happy, and we always think there’s all this time for you to work things out. It never really occurred to me to that there might not be. I don’t know what to say, we didn’t know you were so miserable. All I can say is that I’m so sorry, and if it seemed like I was pushing Riley at you, it was only because I thought he would make you feel better.” Willow stopped and sat looking down at the table “I really wish I hadn’t been so wrapped up in myself. I know I’ve been spending a lot of time with Tara lately, and I guess I lost sight of what being a friend really means. I was happy, so I thought that meant you were too.”

“The only thing that would make me feel better, I can’t have. I’m sorry I yelled at you. I didn’t mean what I said about you and Tara, I’m glad you found someone. I know losing Oz was hard and if she helps you feel better then I’m all for it.” I gave her what I hoped was reassuring smile.

“ I’m going to say something and I want you to not be upset. That means no yelling.” She shook her finger at me, a nervous little smile on her face. “Do you want Angel back? I mean, … is that what it would take to make you feel better? Answer me honestly. ”

“I love Angel, and if there was a way to make it work I would jump on it. But after what I said the last time I saw him, I doubt he wants to be with me. I wish things could be different, but he left and he’s not coming back.” Tears started trickling down my face, I tried to clamp down on the pain, but it was running loose in my heart and I finally just let them flow.

They both started blubbering then, so I left them to it. Weeping women should always be avoided and I needed to pay a visit to some of the pubs in Sunnydale. I’ve been spending too much time with the Slayer and her lot lately. I need to go on a good old-fashioned bender, all this time spent being Soul-boy junior tends to wear on a bloke.

“Guys, what are we going to do? Angel’s losing it, I mean I’m no fan of Wolfram & Hart but l can’t believe he just locked them in with psycho-bitch and her evil twin.” Cordelia was pacing an erratic pattern across her living room floor.

“I’ll admit that was foul but they deserved it. You’re acting like this is the end of the world. Big deal, he fired us, it’s fucked up, but we can take care of ourselves.” Gunn had been shocked by Angel’s leaving half the lawyers at Wolfram & Hart to Darla & Druscilla’s mercy but he refused to deal with it. Right now they needed to focus on doing their work, with or without Angel.

“If he goes all evil then we’re all gonna die. I mean Gunn I know you never saw him when he was Angelus but trust me it’s not a pretty sight. Wesley, don’t just sit there, say something!” Cordelia was starting to shake and she seemed to be just this side of all out hysteria.

“I’m not sure what to say, Angel’s behavior is certainly disturbing but I don’t believe the curse has been broken.”

“Whoa hold up, who’s Angelus?” He couldn’t figure out why Cordelia was so freaked out.

“Angel without the soul. Also known as the most vicious vamp ever to walk the earth, just call him the sexy version of the Antichrist.” Cordelia had stopped pacing and was staring at Wesley tapping her well-shod foot impatiently.

“I know Angel’s a vamp with a soul and all that, but I thought the curse was unbreakable.”

“Well the original curse had a true happiness clause, but when he and Buffy…well when they, that is to say…” Wesley was suddenly uncomfortable explaining past history.

“He’s trying to tell you Buffy and Angel did the hippity-dippity and Angel got happy. That broke the curse and Angelus was free. He killed a whole lot of people, including the Gypsy sent to make sure the curse held. She was Giles’ girlfriend, speaking of whom, Wesley, maybe we should call him.”

“He’s the demon that makes Angel a vampire, like Darla and Druscilla. But his having a soul is what keeps the demon at bay.” Wesley replied.

“So what did you do last time? I mean if he’s so evil, why not just kill him?”

“That’s a long story, but to make it short Willow re-cursed him and all was well. Or at least as well as things get in Sunny Hell, he moved here a little while later. I know Buffy hasn’t been back since last Thanksgiving, and I didn’t notice him hooking up with anyone else. Unless him and Darla…?” Cordelia flopped into a chair finally tired of pacing.

Wesley shook his head “I don’t believe sex with Darla would have brought him happiness. At least not of the magnitude required to break the curse. Although I’m not sure the curse was performed properly, I wasn’t present, how much of it do you remember?” He turned towards her, hoping to figure it out without calling Giles. He knew how much pain Angelus had caused the Watcher, and he wanted to avoid inflicting more.

“I was so not understanding what was going on, I mean I’ve never learned ancient Romanian or whatever language she was chanting in. She used this Orb of Thessalia or Thesseulah, something like that. I can e-mail her and find out if you don’t want Giles to know what’s going on. I’ll tell her it’s for research or something, and I’ll make her promise not to tell Giles or …Buffy.” She paled suddenly at the notion of what it would do to the Slayer to face Angelus again.

Wesley smiled at her suddenly grateful for the ‘new’ sensitive Cordelia, he knew as well as she did that if Angelus was breaking loose, the kindest thing would be to keep the news from Sunnydale as long as possible. It would not be the wisest course perhaps, but it would definitely be less painful in the short run. He was still debating what to do when Cordelia started screaming.

“STOP!!! Please don’t, somebody make them stop!” Cordelia was thrashing back and forth on the floor clutching her head.

“Oh, now this is the last thing we need, don’t the PTB know Angel’s not necessarily playing for the home team. Cordelia, SNAP OUT OF IT” Gunn held her until she stopped screaming, “what do you see? Where do we need to be?”

She whispered “Buffy. We’ve got to go back to Sunnyhell right now.” Grabbing Gunn’s arm she pulled herself up. ”Something horrible is happening to Buffy.”

“I know you didn’t want them to know there might be a problem with Angel, but after what I just saw it’s the least of our worries. We need to get him and get on the road quick!” They were still confused when she pushed them out the door “Hurry up, go home and pack I’ll meet you at Angel’s in twenty minutes.”

They were down the stairs and on Wesley’s bike peeling out before it dawned on them that they didn’t know what Cordelia had seen. Meanwhile Cordelia sat on the floor dialing the number Oz left for her when he’d last stopped off in LA.

“Oz, this is Cordelia, I know you gave me this number in case Willow ever needed help. It’s not Willow exactly, but Buffy needs help. Please, when you get this message head for Sunnydale as fast your furry little legs can move.”

She rifled through her memory for a second trying to remember Willow’s number, they usually e-mailed each other, it only took her a second to dial it “Willow, oh hey Tara, this is Cordelia is Willow around? She’s with Buffy, are you sure? Look, call everybody and tell them to be at Giles’ first thing tomorrow…”she glanced at her watch ”well this morning. It’s important, and if Willow comes back keep her with you. Do you hear me? Keep her with you!!”

Cordelia grabbed her suitcases and threw clothes, underwear and shoes in haphazardly. For the first time in her life her mind wasn’t on how she looked. She actually wouldn’t have bothered to pack, but she had a feeling she was going to be in Sunnydale for quite some time. She refused to let herself think about the vision she’d had. She just hoped they could save Buffy.

“It’s getting late, and I’ve still got to get home. Will you be at school tomorrow?” Willow rubbed her eyes tiredly, I couldn’t blame her I was suddenly exhausted.

“Yeah, I guess attending class would be a good thing. Is it really that late? You can crash here on the couch if you want, and take the bus back tomorrow morning with me. I have a 9:30 class, we can catch the early bus at 8:30.”

“Naah, I have a 8:00 lab. The last bus leaves in a few minutes, I’ll just walk over and catch it.” Willow smiled suddenly and hugged me. “I’m so glad we had this out, it was rough hearing how upset you’ve been but it felt good to actually talk. I guess we’ve been so busy with couple-y things that we’ve lost track of being buds.”

“You don’t have to walk me to the bus, I know you’re tired and besides I have a new protection spell and my very own Mr. Pointy.” She whipped a tiny black stake out her bag and flourished it, giggling wildly.

“Oh, yeah Willow that’s gonna scare away all the bad guys.” Buffy couldn’t help laughing at the sudden image of Willow fighting off vamps with a stake and a giggle.

“Actually my new spell should keep them away, I changed the uninvited spell so that instead of just being for a house it works for people. I figure the more protection the better, and my Mr. Pointy is made of dogwood soaked in holy water and blessed by three priests.” Willow smirked, pleased with expression of shock that appeared on the Slayer’s face.

“Damn Willow, I take it back, the bad guys should be afraid. I had no idea you were traveling loaded for bear or well…demon. What’s with all the extra protection?”

“Oh Spike suggested the spell, and I read in one of the Diaries about a Catholic Slayer that used to get her stakes blessed and all. Until you she was one of the longest lived Slayers, I figured if it worked for her it could work for us.” They were quiet for a while contemplating the fact that Buffy at 20 had outlived almost every other Slayer in recorded history.

It wasn’t until they were at the bus stop that Buffy spoke again. “Willow can you make me a Mr. Pointy like yours? I could use the extra little bit of ….” Buffy trailed off as she felt someone’s eyes on her back.

“Buffy? What’s wrong?” When Buffy didn’t respond, instead dropping into a fighting stance Willow tightened her grip on her stake and started trying to talk up her courage to fight. *C’mon girl, you’ve got to stay focused, something bad is coming and you’ve faced baddies before you can do it again.*

They stayed like that, tensed for a fight for a good five seconds before Spike lurched out of the shadows, the marks on his face and the blood all over his shirt telling the story he couldn’t yet.

Spike made it to about six feet away before he fell to his knees and then slumped forward half on his face. Willow glanced around not seeing anything between her and the blond vamp but the odd tension she suddenly felt, prompted her to wait for Buffy’s nod before she ran to check on him. When she bent to help him up she realized that someone had hurt him badly, there was a hole in his stomach big enough to put her fist in and his left arm hung at a strange angle. “Who did this?”

Suddenly Buffy grabbed her arm hauling Willow up, then she bent to help pull Spike up. “The bus’ll be here in a sec. I can hear it coming, take him and go.” She was still staring around looking for what ever had attacked Spike. She could feel someone’s presence and she knew with an overwhelming certainty that she needed to get Willow away and quickly.

Spike grabbed at Buffy as she started to move away “Get on the bus with us. You don’t want be here for what’s coming. I’ve seen many a bad thing and this is not one you wish to deal with alone.” Buffy smiled at him then pointed at the bus.

“Damn it, listen to me.“ Spike sounded almost frightened even as Willow and Buffy shoved him toward the bus’ stairs. “You can’t fight alone and I’m too slagged to be much help. Don’t be a bloody hero.”

“That’s what they pay me to do. I’ll be all right, you just get Willow home safe. Wills, tell Angel I loved him,...always. Tell him I never stopped.” Willow could feel something horrible in the air, a mist of pain and death hanging over everything.

“Take my Mr. Pointy...and come back to us.” She wanted to stay and help Buffy fight but she knew that would only slow the petite blonde down. If whatever was out there had been able to take Spike down, she would be of little assistance without any weapons. The bus driver honked the horn, impatient to get gone. He’d only lived in Sunnydale a week before he saw his first dead body. He had no desire to find out what was waiting out there. Only his conscience kept him from simply leaving the odd trio there.

The bus was halfway down the block before the darkness attacked, the last thing Willow saw was Buffy being surrounded. “Stop the bus! I have to go back. Spike, we have to go help her.” Will ran for the back door, pulling frantically at the cord. The driver sped up, ignoring the frantic red-head, he had seen the things surrounding the blonde and he was not about sacrifice himself or his passengers in a futile rescue mission.

“Sit down witch, there’s nothing you can do. I saw what’s out there and all you could have done was make her watch you die first.” Spike had stretched out on the floor of the bus with his back propped against the seats. “You’d be better off thinking of how we’re going get from the bus to your dorm. I can barely stand up, and I’ll be damned if I get you killed. As it is, my bloody sire is probably going to drown me in holy water when he figures out she’s gone.”

“She’s not going to die, don’t you even think that way! We’ll get Giles and the others and go back. Buffy’s strong and she’s smart, she’ll be able to hold out.”

“Pet, I killed at least ten of them before I even got to the station. There were at least thirty more, and most of them weren’t vamps.”

“What were they?” She slumped down beside him, her green eyes filling with tears.

“Demons and a few humans, they’re the ones that got me, and what I would swear was a pack of Hell-Hounds. I killed as many as I could, but with this friggin’ chip I couldn’t do anything to the humans.”

“Oh God, I should have gone ahead and cast the protection spell. It would have kept at least some of them off her.” Her head jerked up when she realized what he’d said.

“I’ve got the headache to prove it.” The bus finally slowed as they made the turn onto campus “We’re here pet, help me up. Let’s see if we can get you home in one piece.”

The bus driver averted his eyes as Willow and Spike got off, embarrassed by his own cowardice. It was slow going since Spike could barely stand up, much less walk. Fortunately, there was no activity and with Willow’s help Spike was making decent time. They were halfway across the Quad when Willow saw Tara running towards them.

“You’re okay, oh thank the Goddess you’re okay.” Tara moved to Spike’s other side to help take some of his weight. “Cordelia called, she said for us to go to Giles’ in a couple of hours. Her and Angel will meet us there. What happened to Spike?”

“Long story, but we need to get to Giles’ house now. Something’s happened to Buffy.” *God I sound so calm, I just hope Cordelia and Angel know something I don’t. Angel, how am I going to tell him what happened. I just hope Spike is wrong, of course he’s wrong Buffy’s fine. She faced down the Master, she can manage this, and if something happens to her I don’t know what I’m going to do. This is all my fault, I never should have argued with her, .........

Angel was sitting on a couch in the lobby, staring at the door. He had a stake in his hand and there was a crossbow on the table in front of him. His face was calm, but his eyes were yellow and it was obvious his demon was close to the surface. He had the crossbow cocked and aimed before Gunn’s foot was completely across the threshold.

“Whoa, hold up. It’s just me and Wesley.” Gunn stepped to the side to let Wesley in, his movements slow and careful. Angel slowly lowered the crossbow when he saw they were alone.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you right now, I have other things I need to be dealing with. Please leave.” When they didn’t move, Angel stood and stretched “If you make me physically remove you, you’re going to regret it. I don’t have time for this, they’ll be here soon and the last thing I need is the two of you getting in my way.”

“Do you still have time for Buffy? Because she’s the reason we’re here, and if you’re not willing to help her then we will leave.” Wesley’s voice was cold and he was already turning back towards the door, his face twisted in disgust and anger.

“Buffy, what’s wrong with Buffy?” Angel’s whole demeanor shifted at the mention of his Slayer.

“We’re not sure, all we know is Cordelia had a vision, she sent us here.” Angel had Wesley off the ground before he’d completely finished the sentence.

“Is this a trick?” He was shaking Wesley so hard, the man’s teeth were rattling like ice cubes “If this is some bullshit you cooked up...!”

“Put him down! This isn’t a trick, I saw her Angel, and she’s in so much pain.” Cordelia was grabbing at Angel’s arm in a futile attempt to force him to lower the ‘rogue demon hunter’. “If you don’t believe me, call Giles’. I’m sure they know by now.” As if it could hear them the phone rang, Angel lowered Wesley to the floor and grabbed the receiver.

“When? How? I’m on my way.” He hung up the phone, and slid to the floor, cradling his head.

“Angel, who was that? Was that Giles? Damn it, Angel say something!” Cordelia pulled his hands away from his face. “Look at me, who was that?”

“That was him. You were too late. Willow saw them surround her, Giles said she’s gone. I left her so she could have a life, and it didn’t matter. I gave up the happiest day of our lives and they still took her away.” Blood tears were streaming down his face, and he had a vacant look in eyes. “Oh sweetheart, I can still feel you with me, don’t worry we’ll be together soon.”