Hello everyone, me again. I have a new story, which is becoming my latest project. I hoping it will be part of a trilogy but we'll see how things go. Anyways, have two chapters for you today. Looking forward to seeing what you think.

Enjoy

"Is this hell?" She looked at the person she knew to be her sister, but felt nothing. Nothing but pain. Buffy's wide, once soulful green eyes were fixed on Dawn who was looking at her with astonishment as she processed her bitter words.

This had to be hell. Only hell could hurt this much.

Not even real life hurt this much.

"No," Dawn shook her head, tears leaking from her eyes as she took in her older sister, "no. Buffy, this is home. You're home." Buffy just stared at her blankly.

Home?

Home was not supposed to hurt. If this was home, why did it hurt?

"Then why does it hurt?" She asked shakily. Dawn frowned, unsure how to respond to that. The look in her sister's eyes was empty, haunted and filled with despair. She did not seem at all happy to be back, in fact she looked like she had been cursed to be in Sunnydale again. She licked her lips, taking a breath to try and convince her sister to step away from the platform she had jumped off once before.

"DAWN!" Both of them gasped at the shout from below, heads whipping around to see the shape of a man beneath them in the construction yard. Buffy's eyes went wide when she recognised the husky British tone and the duster clad figure below them. It was a voice that had spoken to her with love, respect and utter sincerity the night before she had died. The voice that belonged to someone she knew would never harm her and would never have wished this on her.

"Spike…" was all Dawn could say before Buffy hurtled past her and began sprinting down the tower. Dawn called out to her before hurrying after her sister. The tower rattled and groaned under their frenzied movements, but the recently resurrected Slayer would not be deterred. He would stop the pain.

He always did.

"Dawn! I swear to God, Nibblet, if you don't get down here, I'm gonna find a way to…" Whatever else Spike was going to say died on his tongue as he turned his gaze to base of the tower. She was running to him, almost in slow motion, Dawn coming to a stop just behind her. She was still clad in the same dress they had laid her to rest in; her blonde hair was still as vibrant as before. And despite a couple of bruises, she was as beautiful as ever. A strangled sob came from his throat at the sight of her. "Buffy…" the next moment she was colliding with his chest.

Buffy wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his chest and breaking down into gut-wrenching tears. After his shock passed, Spike's arms came to encircle her in his embrace. He glanced helplessly up at the Nibblet, who looked just as powerless as he was feeling. Buffy pressed closer to him, her grip would be crushing a human but luckily he could take it.

"Spike." She uttered his name, like a pray. "Spike…" her legs caved and they both dropped to their knees as she all but crawled inside him. Buffy curled up in his lap as Dawn approached cautiously. Spike raised his eyes from the weeping angel in his arms to meet her gaze.

"I…how…why?" He stammered. His ability to speak had been robbed from him. Buffy was back, she was in his arms and she was holding onto him as she was terrified he was going to disappear. Dawn shook her head, as confused as him.

"I don't know." She replied, gazing down at her sister. "The bot said something about 'the other me' and then I found her here." She bit her lip, she was overjoyed to see her sister again but she knew something was wrong. This was not right. Her sister had died and she knew it, hell, she had seen her jump. So, why was she back?

"Hurts." Both of them turned to the Slayer buried in Spike's embrace. "Everything hurts. If this is home, why does it hurt?" Spike stroked her hair and almost immediately, the violent shaking of Buffy's shoulders lessened.

"I don't know, pet." Spike whispered, soothingly. "But it's all right, I'm here, Spike's got you." She nodded into his chest, huddling closer still. For a moment he just rocked her, trying to comfort her.

"Spike," he looked up at Dawn who was glancing up at the sky, "the sun." Yes, he could feel it rising. He glanced around, not wanting to let go of Buffy and noticed one of the small huts used by the construction crew. He went to rise to his feet.

The reaction of the Slayer was instant. She let out startled wail and clawed at him, not letting him move. He looked down at her as she shook her head wildly. "Spike, no!"

"It's all right, pet." He soothed, "just need to get inside before the sun comes up." she relaxed enough for him to pull her up with him before hurrying over to the hut. The door, by some thankful irony, was open and he was able to gentle coax the still weeping Slayer inside. The hut looked like it was one of those living at work sort of deals as there was a cot in the corner.

He settled down on said cot, as Dawn hurriedly pulled the curtains to the small closed and Buffy curled into him once more. Her message was clear, she was staying as close to Spike as she could. Dawn watched her sister worriedly, unsure what she could say or do at this point.

"I'll go find the others." She said, turning to go. "They'll want to know that…"

"No!" Both she and Spike jumped at the outburst as Buffy began quivering aggressively again in Spike's arms. "Not them! Don't make me see them!" her sister frowned at that.

"But Buffy, they'll…"

"No, tore me out." Buffy sobbed. "They tore me out. I watched them do it. They tore me out, tore me out!" She shook her head harshly. "Please, not them!" Dawn held out her hands as Spike shushed the increasingly distressed Slayer.

"Okay, I won't tell them." Dawn reassured her, coming over and running her through her sister's hair. "I promise, it's all right." Buffy sniffed, leaning to her little sister's comforting touched whilst her hand fisted Spike's shirt. She glanced up at the vampire. "I've got to get home, Willow and Tara," she noticed Buffy's entire frame tense at Willow's name, "they'll worry." Spike nodded.

"Yeah, get going, Bit." He awkwardly slid his duster off before draping it over himself and Buffy. "I'll sit here with your sis, then I'll bring her home…" Buffy shook her head again.

"No, not there." She looked up at Spike, her eyes swimming and pleading with him. "Don't want to be near them." He tilted his head, biting his lower lip as she went on. "Crypt? Do you still have your crypt?" He nodded. "Take me there." He nodded again.

"Okay, okay." He stroked the back of her neck as she settled down again before looking up at Dawn. "You'd better go, Dawnie. We'll be here until the sun goes down." She nodded, dropping her head to her sister's shoulder for moment.

She wanted to say she was glad Buffy was back, but she knew it was the wrong thing to say. Buffy clearly did not want to be back in Sunnydale. And she wanted to know why.

"Can I come by the crypt later?"

"Sure," Spike answered. As Dawn went to the door, he had a thought. "Dawn," She turned to him and he gave her his most serious look, "don't tell the Scoobies she's back."

"Duh," she glanced at her sister, "something tells me they're hiding something and my sister is big part of it." He nodded and she quickly left the hut and closed the door. Now, in the dimly cabin, Spike began rocking Buffy again as she calmed down in his embrace once more. Unsure what else to do, and not wanting to question her too much just yet, Spike began humming quietly, hoping to comfort his weeping angel.

…

Dawn quietly slipped through the back door of her house, making sure to shut the door silently before creeping through the kitchen. During the time Buffy was 'away' she had made a point of sneaking out to see Spike most nights. And he had taught her how to silently sneak back in so the Witches would not catch her. And they had not caught her yet.

"Maybe we did it wrong." She stopped, hearing Xander's voice in the living room. She pressed herself against the wall. "I mean, nothing happened when…"

"I didn't do anything wrong, Xander." Willow responded, angrily. "I performed the ritual exactly how it was supposed to be done. Nothing went wrong." She frowned as she listened to the two argue. Ritual?

"Well fun fact, Wills; I don't see Buffy sitting here with us." Xander retorted.

Dawn froze, every muscle tightened in response to the indescribable anger that rose up inside her. They had resurrected her sister and they had not told her or Spike. They had gone behind their backs to bring Buffy back from the dead. It was her family they were messing with and she would have had every right to at least be told what they were doing. It took everything she had not storm into the sitting room and start screaming.

"She's probably out in Sunnydale; I mean we didn't exactly stick around to see her rise up…" There was a moment's silence. "Oh Goddess, what if she had to dig her way out?"

"Dig her way out?" Xander replied.

"Yeah, like out of the grave?! She was in a coffin, buried under dirt and we didn't…she could be dead again!" Willow exclaimed, her voice shrill with panic as Xander shot to his feet.

"We'd better go back!" Dawn ducked away from the door as the hurried footsteps of the two people she had once thought to be Buffy's best friends rushed out the front door.

Angry tears welled up as she marched towards the stairs and ascended them to go to her room. She was much louder than she wanted to be, as Tara emerged from her and Willow's room to see her reach the landing.

"Dawnie, are you okay? Where've…" That was as far as she got as Dawn stormed past her and into her room. If Tara assumed to follow, she quickly thought better of it as the younger Summers girl slammed the door shut and this was followed by the resounding click of the lock.

She frowned, wondering why she seemed so upset before retiring to the master bedroom to wait for Willow to come back, having heard her dash out of the front door.

…

Spike gently ran his hand up Buffy's back as she remained pressed against him. She had finally stopped crying and was now just lying quietly on his chest, her hand rubbing small circles over his shirt. He did not question why she was doing it, probably just to keep herself from succumbing to more tears as they lay silently.

He knew his legs were going to be dead when the sun finally set but he did not care. Buffy was in his arms and from the looks of it, she was determined to stay in them. And if that was what she wanted, that was what she would get.

He glanced down at her hand and for the first time, saw the bruising and dried blood on her fingers and knuckles. His jaw clenched when he realised that the Scoobies, whom by now he had guessed were behind her resurrection, had not even waited to dig her out. They had left her to claw her way out of her own grave. He wanted to go crack their skulls, but a certain piece of technology in his head stopped him from doing so.

He glanced around the small hut, seeing a sink as well as a small plastic tub. He began to rise and Buffy tensed immediately, her arms tightening around him.

"It's all right, pet." He cooed, gently petting her hair. "Just gonna get some water to clean your hands with." She blinked and glanced at the back of her hands, as if finally realising the state they were in. She rose up with him, curling her knees under herself as he stood and went over to the sink.

She just gazed at her bloodied hands, listening to the sounds of water filling the tub and then the rustle of fabric. She bit her lip, remembering how she had punched her way through the coffin and then dug her way out of the dirt. She recalled her gasping first breath of the cold, harsh air of reality and how she had realised she had been torn out of her…

She bit her lip, her fingers curling into fists as Spike knelt in front of her.

She raised her gaze to his as he took her hands gently and looked them over. He sighed before carefully brushing his lips over the sullied skin. With wide-eyes at the easy affection he showered her with, she watched as he dipped the cloth he had found in the water before lightly dabbing her skin. She gave a little gasp at the sting in her flesh, her fingers flexing and he smiled softly.

"Sorry, pet." He brushed his lips over the spot that stung. She gave him a small watery smile and he went back to his task. They sat in silence, save for the little gasps Buffy would give every time he dabbed a sensitive spot on her skin. Each time, he would apologise and lightly brush his lips over the spot. The silence became too much for Spike after a few moments and he decided to break the silence the only way he knew how.

"Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, I heard a young maiden, in the valley below," his singing faded into soft humming as Buffy listened, the song soothing her frayed nerves as he continued to clean her hands. After a moment, she giggled. "What?" he asked with a smile, peering up at her through his lashes. She shrugged.

"Didn't know you sing." He chuckled, finishing up with her hands. He sat next to her on the cot, holding her hands in his as she looked at him.

"I don't usually," he replied, his thumb rubbing her healing knuckles as he spoke, "It sometimes helps calm me down when I'm feeling upset or angry." He shrugged. "Used to do it when I couldn't fight something, which I can't very much these days."

"I'd figure with all the demons running around out there you'd have enough violence to get by." She quipped. He laughed, happy to see some of the perkiness in his Slayer.

"So would I, but I've spent most of my time with the Nibblet since…you've been gone." She smiled, a hand slipping out of his to cup his cheek.

"You kept your promise." She stroked his skin with her thumb. He lowered his head, grimacing at that. He had kept his promise to her, even as it was killing him being in the world without her.

"Told you I would." They gazed at each other, when he glanced out towards the window. His vampire senses were telling him it was okay for them to move. "We can go to my crypt now if you want, pet. Just say the word…" he trailed off when she got to her feet and took his hand. She had pulled his duster over her shoulders, almost as though it was a cloak and she coaxed him to his feet with a soft tug on his hand and that small smile on her face.

"Let's go." He could only nod in response.

…

It did not take them long to reach Spike's crypt, they had ducked through some of the small cemeteries and by some miracle they had not run into any demons or vampires. And the whole way there, Buffy clasped Spike's hand in her own tightly. It was almost as if she was afraid he would disappear if she let him go.

The irony was not lost on Spike. Here she was holding onto him like he was a lifeline when she had been brought back to life. It should have been him who was terrified of her disappearing. And he was, but to know she seemed to be just as afraid made his heart ache.

He moved around his crypt, lighting candles as he did so. Buffy clutched his duster around her shoulders as she looked around. It was strange to see how much life Spike had brought into the place that was meant to house the dead.

"I don't know how long you're gonna want to stay." Spike said as he turned to her, putting his zippo away. "So…"

"How about forever?" He gave a smile, giving her an adoring look. "You'd let me stay that long?" he chuckled, approaching her and wrapping her in a gentle embrace. Buffy tucked her head under his chin, coiling her arms around him.

"You can stay as long you like, pet." He answered. "However long it'll take you to be ready to face the Scoobies." She tensed, and all of a sudden her body was shaking with rage.

"I'll never want to face them, except maybe Tara," She conceded. "She wouldn't have done it if she knew what she was about to do. But Willow and Xander, I never want to see them." Spike pulled back and swallowed at the sight. Her eyes were dark with such fury that even his demon shrunk back in fear. "They tore me out!"

"Someday you will." He tried.

"No." He was taken aback by certainty in her answer. "They took me away from my rest, they stole it from me!" He froze, his eyes going wide as he stare at her feeling the strength of her grief as if it were his own. No, it was his grief, grief for her, grief for what she had earned being taken from her. "Why?! Why did they do it, Spike?" She demanded, beating a weak rhythm into his chest as a fresh wave of tears spilling down her cheeks.

He shook his head, his face stricken. He knew what she was saying, he knew but he needed to hear her say it. Needed to justify the sudden urge to find and kill Willow for what he suspected had happened.

"Buffy," he began. "Are you saying you were…?" The door to his crypt slammed open and they both glanced up sharply to see a frazzled and breathless Dawn standing in the doorway.

"Spike! We've got a problem!" She dashed to them as she began speaking in a rapid and high-pitched voice. "Xander, Willow they caught me leaving the house when I was coming to see you." She looked down. "When they started lecturing me, I-I lost my cool and let it slip that their stupid spell worked." Buffy gasped looking at Spike in panic as the vampire's eyes narrowed at Dawn's next words. "They've got Tara and Anya and they're coming here. They were right behind me."

"Nibblet…" his voice was low and deadly and she swallowed nervously, thinking his anger was directed at her.

"I know! I'm sorry, but they were being so damn stupid and condescending and annoying that I…."

"Stay here with your sister. I'll see if I can head them off." She looked at him with wide eyes as he stepped past them. He could hear the Scoobies' footsteps approaching the gates of Restfield. "If I'm not back inside in ten-minutes, you go down the trap door and lock it. You wait until I knock three times, got it." She nodded as Spike went to leave. Buffy gave a tortured cry as she rushed towards him.

"Spike!" he smiled, kissing her forehead comfortingly as she gripped his shoulders.

"I'll be fine, stay with Dawn." With a shaky nod, she stepped back and quickly folded herself into Dawn's arms as the vampire stepped out of the crypt, pulling the door so it was just barely open. She sniffled quietly as Dawn tried to comfort her panicked older sister.

Turning towards the gates of the cemetery, Spike glimpsed Xander, Willow, Tara and Anya walking through the gate. Xander was marching with a purpose, a crossbow in his hand and his eyes narrowed at the sight of the vampire. Spike slipped his thumbs into the belt of his jeans. He stared the boy down, making it his stance very clear.

They were not getting past him.

"Evenin' Whelp." He greeted sarcastically. "What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"Quit with the games, Bleached Boy. Where is she?" Xander snarled as the Scoobies came to a stop in front of the vampire. Willow stood over Xander's shoulder, obviously showing she was following his lead. Tara stood away from the two, clearly unsure on where she stood and Anya looked typically bored.

"She? Who's 'she' exactly?" Spike retorted.

"You know who, Spike!" Willow snapped. He turned his scornful gaze to the red-haired witch, actually feeling an intense wave of dislike towards her for the first time.

"Oh, you mean the Bit?" He jerked his head over to the crypt. "Yeah, she's in there. Wanted help with her studies, you know how it is…."

"That's not who we mean and you know it!" Xander cut him off as he and Willow glared at him.

"Xander, maybe we should just go…" Tara began, seeing the situation for what it was. If Buffy was indeed alive, and if she was here with Spike, it was because she wanted to be. Spike's eyes flicked to her and he nodded, communicating silently that her instincts were right. She bit her lip as she saw Xander and Willow had no intention of backing down.

"No!" Xander got into Spike's face. The vampire glared back calmly. Chip or no chip, he could easily subdue Harris without hurting him. "I know she's in there, Spike. And we're not leaving without her." The vampire's lips curled into a menacing smirk as he stepped forward. Xander retreated a step in the face of his advance.

"Oh, I suppose you're talking about a recently resurrected Slayer." He drawled out, dangerously. With each word his spoke, his anger and disgust at their foolish actions slipped off each syllable. "A recently, resurrected Slayer who had to claw her way out of her own grave because her own friends were too stupid to think that, maybe, they should have dug her up first." Tara swallowed as Anya bit her lip, both looking quite guilty. Points to them, as far as the vampire was concerned.

As Spike spoke, he slowly moved towards Xander until he was in the slightly taller man's face. He sneered, his posture was relaxed but every inch of him was on guard.

"Is that to whom you're referring to, boy?" He growled. Xander swallowed, a smile working onto his face as Willow nodded with a triumphant grin on her face.

"So it worked." He mused.

"Yeah, it worked. And you didn't tell me, or Dawn, a damn thing!" They blinked at Spike's furious words. "At the very least you should've told the Nibblet. I mean, it's her fucking sister you were planning to bring back to life, I mean if anyone should've known it was her!" Xander held up his hand.

"Hey, look…"

"But more importantly, what in the bloody hell are you doing, Red?!" Spike demanded, looking straight at the witch. "Do you have any idea what kind of powers you're messing with?!" She looked affronted at his words,

"I can handle…"

"You've messed with the bloody laws of nature, you stupid bint!" He snapped. She flinched at his words as Tara looked on worriedly. Spike was right; they had broken the barrier between life and death. It was wrong, on so many levels. "You brought back the dead! There are some rules you just don't break," Spike went on, his rage building with each world, "because the repercussions are too much for the world to take."

"Hey! I can handle it!" Willow shot back, arrogantly. "I was able to bring Buffy back, I pretty sure I can handle anything that may come our way." She smirked but Spike shook his head.

"Magic always has consequences, Willow. You should know that, and if she doesn't, you bloody should, Glinda!" He gestured at Tara who lowered her head in shame. "What were you thinking letting her…?"

"Hey!" He turned his attention back to Xander, who was glaring at him. "We don't answer to you, Spike. You're a fangless vampire who sticks around because we need the muscle." He pointed at crypt. "And right now, we're taking Buffy home." He went to walk by the vampire, Willow right behind but Spike stepped back in his path.

"I don't think so." Tara tensed at the lethal edge to Spike's words. He was gearing for a fight.

"Xander, come on." Anya piped up. She, better than anyone, knew that what Spike said was true. And she also knew that Xander was not in the right at this point. If Buffy was staying with Spike, it was because she knew what they had done. And she hated them for it, rightfully so. "Let's just go."

"Why, Anya?" He shot back, jeeringly. "Because, Spike said so? Not a chance," he turned back to the bleached blonde, trying to appear threatening. "Get out the way, Spike."

"No." He scoffed.

"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. But, no matter what you do," he poked him in the chest, "we're taking Buffy home." He went to step around him once more, but again, Spike intercepted him.

"You're not going into that crypt." Spike drawled threateningly. Xander raised his head and took a slow step backwards. Then he snorted before whipping up the crossbow and aiming right at Spike.

"Xander!" Tara and Anya exclaimed. Willow just folded her arms and waited for Xander to get the vampire out of the way. Spike eyed the boy disdainfully, giving a soft and deadly chuckle.

"You've only got one shot," he pointed out, his hands slipping from his belt to hang loosely by his sides. "And it'll take more than that to keep me down." Xander gave him a malicious smile.

"Yeah? Well we'll just…"

What happened next caught everyone off guard.

A blur of blonde hair shot past Spike and speared Xander to the ground. The boy yelped in disbelief as Willow cried out in shock. Tara, Anya and Spike all watched slack-jawed as Buffy, kneeling on Xander's chest, grabbed his hands, her eyes wild with frenzied fury and began trying to yank the crossbow from his grasp. To his credit, Xander held on tightly, perhaps more out of astonishment than anything else.

"No!" Buffy shrieked as she began slamming Xander's arms on the ground, not holding back as she tried to get him to let go of his weapon. The boy yelled out in pain as his wrists cracked against the hard soil. Dawn came running from the crypt, but Spike caught her. Realising that Buffy was in state of mind that would only lead to her sister getting hurt, he held her back, giving her a small shake of his head. "You won't hurt him! I won't let you!" Buffy screamed as she finally got Xander to release the crossbow.

"Buffy!" Xander called out, desperately trying to ward her off. Buffy was attacking him, actually attacking him and it was beyond his comprehension. He put his hands on her shoulders, trying to hold her back but she just swatted his arms down. She began slapping and scratching at him, his flailing arms not giving her enough room to throw a full punch. And it was a good thing for Xander as she was clearly too furious to hold back. "Buffy! Hold on! I'm trying to…"

"No!" She grabbed at his shirt and began pushing him into the floor, knocking the wind out of him. "I won't let you! I won't let you take him from me! You've taken everything else, you can't take him too!"

"Buffy, what're you doing?!" Willow screeched, unable to believe how Buffy was reacting. "That's Xander!" Buffy either ignored or did not hear her in her desperate attempts to batter Xander's arms out of the way. She rushed forward in an effort to help Xander, but Buffy, without rising from her perch on his chest, backhanded her away and sent her skidding to the floor. The witch raised her hands to her burning lips, her fingers smeared with blood before she froze at Buffy's next words.

"You already stole heaven from me!" Xander's eyes widened, stupefied by her words, as his resistance faltered for a moment. And Buffy, seizing the opening, immediately shoved his arms to the side and pinned him down with one hand, raising her other arm as if she were about to stake a vampire. "You tore me out! You already took heaven away; you're not taking Spike from me!"

"Buffy!" Spike's voice snapped her out of her hysteria and her head whipped around to look at him. He was staring at her in disbelief, his eyes fixed on her raised hand. She frowned, following his gaze. Her eyes went very round as she let out a ragged breath.

Her hand, clenched as though she were wielding a stake, was glowing with faint white energy. And that clearly magical energy had taken the form of a Slayer's weapon of choice: a sharpened stake. She swallowed, utterly bewildered as she stared at her hand as if it were a foreign appendage, slowly bringing it round to the front of her face. Her hand began trembling at the sight before the energy suddenly burst into nothingness and she fell back in bewildered fear, a frightened squeak leaving her lips as she scuttled back away from Xander.

Her chest heaving, she glanced around frantically. Xander looked like he had seen a ghost as Tara and Anya wore similar expressions of confusion. Spike was watching her with awe and obvious fear for her and Dawn clearly looked as the world had tipped on its axis. Finally her gaze settled on Willow who, whilst clearly as perplexed as everyone else, quickly realised she was Buffy's next target.

"You!" Everyone tensed; realising that whatever shred of reason had been left in the Slayer was gone. "What did you do?!" Buffy yelled, hauling herself and stalking towards Willow, who began scrabbling away. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" The witch held out her hands pleadingly as Buffy.

"Buffy, it wasn't me! I didn't do anything I swear!" Her words fell on deaf ears as her back hit a tombstone and she curled up as Buffy neared her.

"It's not enough to rip me out of heaven, you had to change me as well?!" The hysterical Slayer shrieked as she grabbed Willow by her blouse and yanked her harshly to her feet screaming in her face. "What the fuck did you do to me?!" She began shaking the witch violently before a pair of firm hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. She shouted in rage as Spike lifted her away from the object of her anger.

"Buffy! Enough, calm down!" Spike pleaded, as she fought against him trying to get back at Willow, who had slumped to the floor, her wide and terrified eyes fixed on the untameably furious Slayer. Spike was, quite literally, the only thing standing between her and a painful death at this point. "It's all right, luv." Spike soothed as Buffy thrashed in his grasp.

"She did something to me!" She charged, Spike pulling her back again as she tried to get at Willow. "She pulled me out and changed me! What did you do?!" She demanded before she saw her hands were glowing again. She began hyperventilating at the sight, her body succumbing to a full blown panic attack when Spike grabbed her hands.

"Buffy, breath." He commanded firmly, one hand massaging the side of her throat whilst the other clasped her glowing hands. He hissed, the skin on his fingers sizzling as they came into contact with the magic, whatever the hell it was. "Buffy, just focus on me." Her eyes snapped to his, as she tried to bring her breathing under control. "That's it. Breath…breath." She followed his gently spoken instructions, gradually coming down from her panic before her eyes watered.

"Oh, Spike." She let out a strangled wail, collapsing into his chest as she surrendered to her tears as the intensity of the past few minutes and what had been revealed to her becoming too much. Spike carefully lowered her to the ground as she howled into his chest, trying his best to calm her down as he stroked her hair and shushed her. Dawn moved so she was standing next to the pair, clearly at a loss of what to do

Everyone else was silent except for Buffy's violent sobs, eyes fixed on the distraught Slayer as they tried to reconcile what had just happened.

But then Spike's eyes rose to glare at all of them. They all froze when they saw the amber slits of pure, unadulterated master vampire drilling into them as his protective wrath became almost tangible in the air.

"Leave." He snarled, dangerously. "Get out of here. Before I kill you all." His threat was menacing and completely sincere, leaving the Scoobies no choice but to obey. While Xander and Willow were quick to put as much distance between them and Buffy as possible, with Anya not far behind, Tara turned to look at the three of them.

Her kind, soulful eyes flicked between the Slayer, her sister and Spike and she opened her mouth as if to speak. But then, realising that there was nothing she could say, she closed her mouth and merely bowed her head in apology. She did not know whether they acknowledged it or not as she turned to leave when Dawn crouched down and added her embrace to Spike's as Buffy was drawn into their protective cocoon.

…

The sudden surge of power in the world caused him to snap awake with a gasp. He slowly sat up in his bed, the arm of his companion slowly sliding onto her pillow as he took an unneeded breath. He ran a hand down his face, before glancing out of the doors leading to the balcony of their shared bedroom. Checking to make sure his lover was still asleep; he carefully got out of bed.

He made his way out onto the balcony, the night breeze causing his long hair to flutter as he stared out into the night. His ivory skin seemed to glow in the moonlight, highlighting his muscular and alethic frame while his eyes searched the darkness of the twilight for answers. There was a sleepy groan from the bed, indicating his lover had awoken.

"Darling?" Her harmonious and rich voice asked as she rose from the bed, clutching the sheet to her naked form. She padded towards him, her hair messy from sleep and her light green eyes shining with concern. "Is something wrong?" he frowned, his eyes still fixed on the horizon.

"The Slayer has been wrenched from her slumber." He answered his deep voice husky with righteous anger. She frowned as he went on. "She has been torn from heaven by very powerful magic." She shook her head in rueful disbelief. Why would anyone try and break the laws of nature by bringing a Slayer out of heaven and back into this world? It was sacrilege to taint the gift, but it was not the first time it had happened.

"How? Why?" She asked. He shook his head.

"I don't know, but the Powers want an answer." He growled turning to look at her, his ocean blue eyes glowing red for a moment. "And so do I."

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