SPOILER WARNING!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!SPOILER WARNING!!! TITLE: Fall from Grace part II AUTHOR: Foxhunt2blue RATING: PG-13/R SUMMARY: "Don't look so serious old man...even demons can fall from grace." DISCLAIMER: Nope don't belong to me!! :P ARCHIVE: Please do just let me know! :D FEEDBACK: Live & Die for!! foxhunter2blue@yahoo.com Kitsunegari2001@aol.com Fall from Grace Part II "Would you please...in the name of Cernunnos stop that!" Rupert Giles' voice rose, a thunderous boom in the deep silence of the cottage library. The soft shuffling of Spike's boots came to a halt has he turned to the Englishman, the remnants of a half smoked cigarette dangling from his lip. "Well, maybe if you would bloody well hurry up I wouldn't have to...," his words trailed off as he swung his arms back and forth in a pacing motion. In the passing current of air the precariously balanced ash crumbled drifting to the floor. From the corner Willow watched as the confrontation heated into an all out battle of words. Heritage was questioned as was the occupation of each man's mother and for once she wished herself deaf. Spike,...excuse her William and Giles had been at this for forty eight hours straight. The tension had steadily grown until it almost possessed a physical form all it's own. Hell it had a personality all it's own, who was she kidding. It was so well defined she could even put a face to it. Buffy Anne Summers. "Excuse me," it hadn't come out quite as firm or loud as she had wanted it too, so she shot it up a couple of notches. "EXCUSE ME!!!" Silence was almost instantaneous. Both men had stopped mid word and were now staring at her as if she had sprung a third head from her shoulders. Knowing her luck she had sprung one, not to mention a tail, horns and cloven hoofs. Nothing surprised her anymore. Dropping the book she had been reading, she stood her face flushed a dark pink. "Just stop it! Stop it NOW!!" Giles and William glanced at each other, then began arguing once more. "Tea totaling whore!" "Blood sucking trollop!" "Your mother liked to watch just like you!" "Oh, I can definitely do more than watch!" "I SAID NOW!!! Do...do I have to get out the pointy dunce cap thingies? Do I?!" her voice shook as Giles glared at her. "I know you know this face Giles! Don't make me change my face of annoyance...to..to my 'I'm bloody well pissed' face!" Giles snorted. "Giles...," she hissed between clenched teeth. Behind her Spike began to snicker under his breath. Turning she let the full force of her angry face lose on Spike. Suddenly the room was filled with gales of laughter. "I...I mean it...big and all pointy...and...and I'll make you stick your nose in the corner!" Folding her arms across her chest she frowned at the two hysterical men. Now they were both on their knees clinging to each other, gasping for breath. Spike was the first to speak. "Bloo..oody...hehehe...hell," he gasp, "...you are the funny one...al..always were." She could feel the corners of her mouth twitch as she fought the urge to laugh. Tara. Now it wasn't a smile, but a tremble that caused her mouth to twitch. "Willow?" Giles had stopped laughing, his brow furrowed in worry. Biting down hard she tasted bitter copper. Her hair flung out wildly around her as she shook her head. William was on his feet and right behind her as she fled from the room. He knew that anger, that sorrow, as surely as he had once known what he was...who he was. Grief is a powerful thing. Guilt is even worse. "Spike!" he glanced back at Giles' sharp tone. Their eyes met for, but a split second, yet that was all that was needed. Guilt seemed to be the special of the day. "Don' worry Rupert ol' man. I won't hurt her," he felt his throat tighten. "Red's always been one of my favorites," then he was gone, Giles long forgotten, but not the warning. ******************************************** England was a beautiful world, Willow thought, as she moved across the field. Tara would have loved it here, nature and human living in an embrace that Sunnydale had never known. At the thought of her lover she began to sob, her knees giving out beneath her. "TARA!!" she screamed her name, curling into a tight ball, the scent of heather surrounding her. A faint mist descended from the grey sky curving above her and there was nothing. Nothing, but her and that sky. Xander had brought her back from the insanity, Xander loved her, but not like Tara. It had been something she couldn't explain. Something precious that so few had ever tasted. Buffy would understand. She had known that kind of love with Angel. A love so pure, so perfect that to find another was impossible. "Will?" Lifting her head she swiped the tears from her flushed cheeks. "Hey, girl I know your here. Giles is worried about you...I'm...worried about you." Yeah, right. "If it will make you feel any better I liked Tara as well Red. She was a good lass...she loved you just as much. I'm sorry she passed luv." Sitting up she peered over the soft purple haze of the heather. Spike stood not more than twenty feet from her the heather swaying in the slight breeze, the faint mist of rain shimmering against the darkness of his leather coat. "We all have lost people we love Red." "What do you know about it Spike?" William turned his eyes meeting hers over the short distance. There was a faint flicker in his eyes, then his shoulders slumped. Slowly he moved towards her, with each step the rain began to fall faster, as if in time with Willow's heartbeat. "I know more than you can imagine Red. You look at me as if I'm this soulless thing that couldn't possibly understand the depths of the human heart. Your wrong though...so friggin' wrong." Pushing up off the ground she moved through the swaying haze, the rain soaking through her sweater. He stood so still he could have been carved of marble. "I lost my lover...I killed her." "No, you didn't. Warren did that and you made him pay." "Don't you get it Spike? If she had stayed away, if she had just stayed away she wouldn't have been caught in the crossfire." A flash of Tara, her eyes wide, her lips moving as if to speak her name. A vivid blossom. Scarlet petals spreading above her heart. "Red...listen to me. Your friends they don't blame you. Never have...never will. They know you were suffering, that the pain was stronger than any of them could understand." Willow shook her head in denial. It wasn't just Tara, it wasn't the way she had murdered Warren in cold blood, it was the final betrayal she had committed. "I miss her so much...," she whispered. He bowed his head, the rain rippling over the weathered leather of his coat. "I miss her too." Willow lifted tear filled eyes wondering what the hell he was talking about. "She told me she loved me." His voice was soft, lost against the wind and rain. "Buffy?" she sniffled moving closer. A faint nod. "Do they really understand?" He glanced up, a tiny smile playing at the corner of his mouth. "Of course they do Red. What is it that you think they would never forgive you for?" Reaching out he stroked the side of her face. "No...not my friends." "Then who?" "...goddess...she blessed me and I took her gift, filled it with darkness..." Spike wrapped his arms around her, smiling against her wet hair. Standing there they both remained silent as the rain began to come down in sheets of silvery grey. "...sometimes luv the powers that be know us better than we know ourselves," he whispered. "They forgive us our flaws faster than we forgive ourselves too." ********************************************** Giles sat skimming, yet another musty volume of archaic prophecy. Sometimes he regretted leaving the Watchers behind, but in his heart he knew that he had made the right choice. It was important he set aside his feelings for the greater good, no matter the consequences. Willow had been that focus for the past few weeks, but now he had another focus. Spike. Now that was something that he hadn't expected in a millennium. Though finding he was no longer a vampire was even weirder. At the first opportunity he had called Buffy in Sunnydale via his hidden cell phone and confirmed what Spike had told him. He glanced up at the window hoping they had both found shelter from the storm that now raged against the English countryside. As the light began to fade against the onslaught of the storm he decided to give his eyes a rest. Slipping his glasses off he rubbed the bridge of his nose and yawned, dropping them to the desk. At that moment he saw it. Grabbing up his glasses he leaned over reading the text quickly. It was impossible, he thought, it was bloody well impossible! Frantically searching the shelves he mumbled to himself damning the Council for their short sightedness. How in the hell had they missed this so easily? Fingers closing around the spine of the volume he had sought he dropped into the chair flipping through the vellum pages. After a few moments a look of shock spread over his face. "Son of a bloody bitch!" his fist came down on the desk. "Why didn't I realize it...Lord help me." Standing he ran out of the cottage into the storm in search of his fallen companions. ************************************************** Their fingers intertwined Spike and Willow had headed back to the cottage. They both knew that the path laid before them held more than they either had dreamed of in their lives. Willow felt the warmth of his skin beneath her fingers, the steady thrum of his pulse a miracle to her broken spirit. Around them the storm raged, yet neither feared it. Forgiveness was a powerful thing, especially when it came from within. "Let's go to the chapel," she met his eyes through the falling rain. Nodding he smiled, then turned away from the cottage gate to the chapel. They were just at the door when Giles' desperate voice pierced the veil of rain. "WILLOW!!! WILLIAM!!!" Pausing in the doorway Willow turned waving and crying out to Giles. When he arrived he was soaked and out of breath, his dark eyes alight with disbelief. "What is it old boy?" Spike swiped at the rain dripping into his eyes. "I know what you are!" he yelled over the pounding of the rain. "Come on guys let's get out of this rain," Willow pushed open the door shaking the rain from her hair. Once the door closed behind them the roar of the storm began to fade to a soft buzz. Three soaked exausted bodies flopped down in the bare wooden pews. Silence engulfed them the only light the pale grey afternoon fighting through the stained glass window above the pulpit. "So Giles old boy what is it you think I am?" Giles swiped the rain from his face, trying to dry the lens of his glasses with the tee shirt beneath his sweater. Carefully he placed the glasses on his face then glanced up into William's face. There was a desperate expectation in his eyes as he searched the interior pockets of his dripping coat. "I came across a book of prophecies dated from 10th century Wales. There was a small mention of the slayer." He paused eyes drifting from William to Willow and back again. "What mention?" Willow ask, a shiver running through her body. Taking a deep breath he counted to ten inside his head. This was it, this was what had to be done. "And in a time of great sorrow in a land across the great sea, a slayer shall be reborn from heaven's gate. Lost she shall drift in search of that which she has lost. Her refusal shall bring him away from the edge of the abyss. A man torn from kindness, baptized in blood. He shall turn her refusal into the birth of that which is unique." "What the bloody hell are you talking about Rupert? What am I...," Spike moved to him fingers wrapping into the front of his soaked sweater. Another deep breath. "...he shall become what should never be. The other side of the light. Her shadow...her soulmate. He will be the slayer." "I don't understand Giles what are you saying?" Willow whispered. Spike shook his head, tears filling his eyes, drifting down his pale face. He released Giles' sweater backing away on shaky legs. "You understand don't you Spike?" Giles stood moving towards the trembling man. "....no...no...," he choked out. "Yes, William." Giles reached out grasping Spike's shoulder trying to steady him as he stumbled backwards. "I can't accept this...I can't," he swallowed hard slapping Giles' hand away, his legs collapsing beneath him. Willow moved to his side, kneeling her arms snaking around him. Within the circle of her arms he fought to get control. He had wanted to know the answers...he had demanded she get what she deserved. "Tell me what's happening Spike. What's happening? Explain to me!" her eyes widened as Giles knelt in front of them, his brow furrowed. "He has become what he wished for, he is what the slayer deserves, her other half." Suddenly the sunlight burst through the tinted glass, a kaleidoscope of shimmering colors moving over the trio. "He is the first male slayer." Willow swallowed hard as his words echoed in the chapel. It appeared the powers that be had a sense of humor after all. It also appeared even those who have fallen can be given a second chance. A chance to walk in the light of grace. THE END??