I’ve never attempted fanfic before, so please excuse me if this is not very good. Thought I’d have a go and see if it was any fun. This tale is set in the aftermath of the final Angel episode and while it might reference a bit of what happened in the comics after, it will only be vaguely. Never read them myself. The story is centered around spike, but will likely venture into a Spike/Buffy thing down the road. Hope you enjoy :)
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Heaven And Hell
Chapter 13 A New Dawn
AN: Plenty of dialogue in this one as a bit of an apology to chamekke for not keeping the boys in Canada for longer. :)
The tiny blonde woman raced across the street as if her life depended on it. Panting heavily in exertion, she was a blur of motion, sprinting as fast as her compact little body would carry her. Long, curly hair streamed behind her like a flag in the wind as she darted between and around the many pedestrians wandering in the early evening. She caused a ripple of unease, her obvious panic causing people to looked around fearfully. There didn’t seem to be anyone following her, though, so most people simply shrugged and returned to their own safe worlds.
She was beautiful. Slender to the point of being thin, very short with deep green eyes that would have been luminous had they not been filled with fear. She paused on a street corner, one hand finding the uncaring cold steel pole holding up the street lights and hunched over, gasping for air. A bright pink flush touched her elfin features at the exertion and her free hand held her side as if it might somehow ease the dull ache there.
She didn’t pause long, regardless of the waves of exhaustion so obviously hitting her. After a brief respite, she looked behind her in the direction she’d come from and scanned closely for any sign of pursuit. Only normal, uncaring people caught her eye on the busy street and she sighed softly with relief. Then she stiffened as she saw a hint of a head in the distance, one covered by stark white hair.
That was all she needed. She whirled and started running again, her features growing ever more frightened.
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Dawn Summers was, in a word, bored. Not just that night but in general. With everything. It just wasn’t fair. She had the normal life that had always been such a cherished and coveted dream of everyone back in Sunnydale. A life without danger. No demons exploding on the scene suddenly trying to kill everyone she loved. No hell gods attempting to use her blood to open an inter-dimensional portal. No crazy eyeless monks or primordial vampires attempting to open a gate directly to the lower planes.
That was all supposed to be a good thing. It was supposed to make her feel safe and able to follow her dreams. Why then, did she feel so incredibly alone? Somewhere, the people she loved were fighting for the fate of the world. And she studied economics. Somewhere in the night, evil was at work. And she studied literature. Somewhere out there, the people that mattered most to her were risking their lives. And she spent her days with pseudo friends that would never understand or even know. Doing silly things like go shopping or listening the stories about their latest sexual conquests. It all felt so incredibly meaningless.
Things weren’t supposed to be this way. They told her that they’d sent her away to have a normal life. So that she would be safe and could lead a happy, safe life. Treated her like she was still that awkward teenager back in Sunnydale. Didn’t trust her to be able to make up her own mind about her life. Hammered at her that she was meant to be safe until she’d been too tired to argue anymore. Because it made them happy knowing she was a young woman attending college like a million other young woman.
All she did was worry about them. In her classes. In her dorm room. When she was out with her friends. They no longer gave her the courtesy of even telling her what was happening in their struggles, as if keeping her ignorant would somehow make it easier on her to be away from them. No one answered her questions. And the few times she’d attempted to find out on her own, there had been a heated confrontation with Buffy. It wasn’t right.
“Dawnie,” he roommate, Claire, startled her. She’d been at her desk staring out the window again. Wondering about her family and friends. Wondering why she wasn’t allowed to do her part.
“Sorry, what?” Dawn smiled weakly. “I sorta spaced out.”
“I noticed,” Claire said drily before diving into their over-stuffed closet with a determined expression. “Get dressed, girl. We are so going out tonight. Classes are done and you and I are desperately in need of liquid relaxation. And maybe some cute boy kissing.”
“Danny piss you off again?” Dawn grinned. Distracted and frustrated or not, she couldn’t help but be amused by her roommates pyrotechnic filled relationship. It was sorta fun to watch from the sidelines, even if the thought of being involved in something like that herself sounded simply exhausting.
“Whatever,” her blonde friend waved absently as she went through their clothes as if on a mission “He’s a dumbass. I’m so going to break up with him.”
Dawn snorted in response, which earned her a guilty look and a bit of a blush. Oh yeah, Claire had it bad. “He might meet us there,” she allowed, causing Dawn to smirk.
She was about to start teasing the other girl when Claire let out a triumphant yell and pulled a skimpy dark green dress from the closet. “This is perfect!” she gushed, turning to Dawn. “You are so wearing this tonight, girl.”
“I can’t wear that!” Dawn protested, wide eyed. “It’s… I can’t wear that!”
“Nope!” the other girl waved away her protests and shoved the dress into her hands. “I don’t wanna hear it. Classes are over. I am going home in a few days. You’re going to Scotland soon to visit your bitchy sister. We won’t see each other for months! I’m invoking roommate privileges here. Put it on and stop your bitching. Tonight, we dance.”
Dawn eyed the dress nervously. It wasn’t like she was shy or anything, but this dress was… really short. But she knew her friend and she knew that tone. Claire wasn’t going to let it go. When she decided Dawn needed to cut loose, she could be maddeningly tenacious.
What the hell, she sighed after a moments thought and went to the bathroom to get ready. It wasn’t like she had anything better to do.
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“There she is!” Spike snarled, pointing down the alley and starting off at a sprint. The little blonde woman heard his angry shout and started running again, darting off in the opposite direction. Bloody bitch was fast.
He heard Gate and Tara behind him as he chased their elusive prey. He had her scent so he knew she wasn’t going to get away, but this was getting ridiculous. They’d been chasing her for nearly an hour now and she kept managing to slip away when they got too close.
“Remind me not to volunteer for collection duty again,” Gate groaned between winded breaths.
“This was your idea,” Tara reminded him. She was clearly the most tired of them, but she was keeping up admirably well.
“Remind me not to have any ideas in the future,” the young man shot back, though the other two could hear the grin in his voice.
“Like you’d soddin’ listen,” Spike snorted, causing Tara to giggle. “Wait, she ducked in there. Let’s get this bitch. Got a right notion to rip her bloody head off for picking that face.”
“It’s a good copy,” Tara agreed. “Looks just like Buffy.”
The tired trio made it to the door the doppelganger had disappeared into and followed, heading into one of Boston’s many nightclubs.
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The music thundered. It was so loud that conversation wasn’t an option unless you enjoyed screaming into some ones ear. Drinks were over-priced, not that Dawn and her friends had paid for any. The flashing multicolored lights swirling in the darkness over the large club, especially the spacious dance floor were a bit disorienting. In other words, the club was like a dozen others in the area.
She was on the dance floor with some guy who’d bought her a drink. He was nice enough but they were dancing more because she didn’t want to deal with him yelling awkwardly in her ear than any real desire to dance. Still, it was fun. The music was fast and hard and the exertion of her activity was good. Distracting. Blessedly impossible to talk.
When the dong ended, she let Brad or Brian or whatever his name was lead her back to the table where Claire and her beau were making sweet eyes at each other. Breathing hard, Dawn couldn’t quite hold back a smirk at her roommate. The girl really needed to get her head on straight. Fighting one second and loving the next really wasn’t healthy. Dawn had seen enough to know that. Hell, she’d had ringside seats for it.
“Keep up with the looks ad you two are going to chase me out of the room again,” she teased, causing Claire to give her a sly smile.
“Actually, I think you get the room to yourself, kiddo,” the little blonde grinned. “That is, unless Danny says something stupid again tonight.”
The young man in question looked offended and started to reply but was cut off by his girlfriend leaning in and kissing him. Very cute, really. Dawn watched for a moment, amused, but there was really only so much kissing you could watch before you realized you didn’t have a kissing partner of your own.
She looked out over the crowd because she didn’t want to see the little display her friend was putting on and pretended she didn’t notice the hopeful expression on the face of the young man she’d danced with. Bill? No, that wasn’t it either. Brandon?
The moment quickly grew awkward, unfortunately. The couple kept up with the kissing. The guy kept looking at her. She kept watching the crowd, fighting a sigh. So boring. It really didn’t take much to ruin her mood, she admitted sadly. The fun she’d been having melted away into a frustrated feeling. There were important things happening in the world and all she could do was dance with a guy whose name she couldn’t remember.
She started to turn to her friends to tell them she was taking off when a small blonde woman caught her eye, making her freeze. A slender blonde woman marching determinedly through the crowd in Dawn’s direction.
“Buffy?” she said incredulously, standing to get a better look.
“What?” the man at her side asked, taking her rising as an opportunity to slide an arm around her waist, which she stepped out of distractedly.
“I think that’s my sister,” she said dubiously, lifting an arm to wave Buffy over. Why would Buffy be in Boston, much less this club? Was something wrong?
Buffy smiled at the wave and walked toward her as quickly as she could through the packed crowd. The little woman reached behind her back, getting much closer, and Dawn saw something in her hand when it reappeared. What was she holding? Was that a knife?
A flash of dark leather and white hair caught her eye and she cast a confused look to the side. What she saw there made her breath catch and her jaw drop. Spike!?! What the… But there he was, looking exactly as he had the last time she’d seen him, almost six years before. The cool hair. The half angry swagger. The dangerous predator aura. She knew he was alive again.. She’d believed it when Buffy told her, but seeing him standing there was… oh God, Spike was there, not twenty feet from her.
He wasn’t looking at her though. His face was curled into a harsh sneer and he was staring murderous holes into Buffy, who appeared to have noticed him and had stopped her advance. One of his arms lifted to wave at someone on the other side of Buffy and he pointed at the Slayer a moment later. Dawn followed his gaze and saw a man she didn’t know nod and veer his course to match the direction Spike indicated.
Confusion hit her then. Was Spike evil again? That didn’t jive with anything she’d heard over the years. Exactly the opposite in fact. But why else would he look like he was going to kill Buffy? And why was she suddenly running in the opposite direction, heading for the exit. None of it made sense.
Spike and the other man were hot on her heels, not exactly running but just shy of it. Something was horribly wrong.
“Claire!” Dawn shouted over the music. “I saw someone I have to talk to. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She was off before she heard a reply, leaving her distracted roommate and her boyfriend to deal with the confused boy she’d abandoned.
What the hell was going on?
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The caught up to the shape changer in an alley two blocks away from the club she’d tried to lose herself in. She was racing away, using that uncanny speed of hers to put some distance between herself and the two hunters on her tail but after a long chase, her luck had finally run out. Tara stood waiting at the other end of the alley, as planned.
The witch held up a hand, having already prepared and cast her magic, and that was all it took. The scrambling doppelganger ran headlong into an invisible barrier. She crashed into it with a loud grunt and staggered back in a daze, which allowed Gate, who was a bit ahead of Spike, to tackle her from behind.
The two figures went down in a tangled heap of sailing limbs and muttered curses, but the confused pile did not last long. The Buffy looking creature seemed to writhe within Gate’s bear hug, its form shifting and melting into something else entirely. Gray and sexless, with huge black eyes, it spun impossibly in his grasp to face him and started raining blows on him as h held on for dear life.
“Fucking hell!” Gate shouted. “It’s all slimy! It’s getting goo all over me!”
“That’s why you were supposed to use the net like we said, Mate.” Spike called back, amused now. He lingered, lighting a cigarette as he watched his increasingly slim covered friend struggle to hold the shape shifter down.
“Remember, it was your plan,” Tara grinned at Spike from the other side of the fight.
“I was in the moment,” Gate protested, head butting the frenzied creature. “It seemed like the thing to do. Aww…. You have got to be fucking kidding me!?” This last was in response to an explosion of what could only be called mucus that erupted from the creatures nose and gathered in his hair.
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Dawn ran as fast as she could, cursing her decision to wear high heels with every step. She scanned the streets but found no sign of Spike or Buffy. Where were they?
“Buffy! Spike!” She called nervously.
A heavy crash followed by laughter caught her attention and she followed the sound into a dark alley, fumbling with her purse to fetch the tazer gun Buffy insisted she carry at all times. It sounded like they were fighting again. Why would they be fighting again?
Spike stood casually in the alley watching what appeared to be some kind of wrestling match between two figures Dawn couldn’t quite make out in the darkness. Smoke swirled around him and wafted away as he exhaled a steady stream. His attention was on the fight. He didn’t seem to know she was there, which was surprising, given what he was. He was laughing, clearly amused with something.
“Done yet?” he asked casually. “You know, we don’t have all night. You steal my scrap for the night, least you could do is finish it up quick. This is just rude.”
“Working on it,” came a pained reply from the grappling pile of flesh. Dawn crept forward, wondering where Buffy was. She clearly wasn’t one of the two combatants. “The damned thing’s bones keep shifting! I can’t get a grip!”
“Yeah, that’s why we brought a net, you git!” Spike snorted and Dawn heard a feminine laugh emerge from the pitch black of the alley. The laugh sounded familiar. Not Buffy’s laugh, but.. Very familiar.
There was a quick explosion of a curse from the two wrestling figures and suddenly one of them sailed through the air to crash into a wall, then slide down that wall into the waiting trash dumpster. Dawn heard a woman shout in alarm but she hardly registered it as Spike flicked his cigarette away, reached under his duster and produced a net. He tossed it over the figure still on the alley floor then casually kicked it in the head. It slumped immediately.
A woman emerged from the darkness of the distant alley, hurrying over to the dumpster and into the light and Dawn gasped. “Tara!?” she shrieked.
That drew their attention, of course. Spike and Tara whirled on her, both looking equally stunned. The three of them stood there in silence, the moment frozen.
Oh my God. Tara. Oh my God. Tara and Spike. Oh my god.
Dawn wasn’t quite sure when or how she moved, but she very suddenly found herself barreling into Tara, wrapping the woman in a vice-like embrace and being clutched in return. Her world was rocking. Alive. Both of them alive. She felt hands on her hair, stroking her hair, heard Tara murmuring comforting words to her, but it didn’t help much.
“You’re… How.. Both of you… I heard that Spike… how.. What are you.. How!?” she realized she was sobbing but couldn’t care. Tara. Alive. Spike, standing beside her looking at her with concern like he had back in Sunnydale.
“It’s okay, Dawnie,” Tara murmured gently, letting the shocked young woman clutch at her as she absorbed the shocking news. The witch looked sad as she petted Dawn’s hair and exchanged a look with Spike.
“S’alright, Niblet,” Spike murmured gruffly, reaching out to put a hand on Dawn’s shoulder. The younger Summers looked at him for a second, then he found his arms full of weeping young woman. His eyed widened in surprise but he wrapped her up and kissed her hair.
“No worries, bit,” he said, letting her cry. “See? All flesh and bone here. No reason to fret. Not goin -- OW! Bloody hell!”
He jumped back, wincing as her fist slammed into his stomach and her foot kicked him hard in the shin. Dawn advanced on him though, her weeping replaced by fury. “You didn’t say a word! Not a single call! Not even a fucking postcard! It’s been years! We hurt so much when you died and you didn’t even care! You never said a word!”
Spike flinched at that, but he didn’t seem to know quite what to say. Tara interceded on his behalf, but her expression was thick with guilt as well. She knew she was just as guilty as Spike was here. “Dawnie,” she started, then paused and started again “Sweetie, I know you’re upset. You have every right to be. But please, don’t judge until you hear what we have to say. We love you, you know that.”
“Love me?” Dawn whirled on her, red faced from tears and anger “It’s been six years! Not one word to let me know you were okay in six years! That’s not how you treat someone you love!”
The two of them looked confused, exchanging a look. “Niblet,” Spike frowned “What the hell are you talking about? We both set you letters. You never responded.”
Silence.
“What?” Dawn asked slowly, her expression shifting from pained and hurt to confused. “I never got any letters.”
The vampire and the witch exchanged looks again. She looked troubled and he was starting to look angry. “Dawnie, we both sent ---”
“Don’t mind me,” an exasperated voice interrupted and all three turned to see a man crawling out of the dumpster. He was covered head to toe in some thick slimy substance and a thick layer of garbage, making him look like some crazy trash demon. “Just the guy that got thrown into a wall here. Don’t trouble on my account. Let’s let the fucking shape shifter go while we’re at it, eh?”
“Right,” Tara shook her head as if to clear it. “Sorry, Gate. It’s just.. We haven’t seen her in years. You’re right though. Dawnie, maybe you could come home with us? I really want to talk to you. We both do.”
Dawn nodded slowly, trying to digest it all. She found herself hugging Tara again, then remembered. “Where’s Buffy? Why were you chasing Buffy? Why is she even in Boston?”
Spike snorted, then gave her that smirk she had so adored as a teenager. “Saw that, did ya? Have a look.” He walked over to the unconscious form wrapped in netting and rolled it over with a foot. “Here’s what you saw, bit. Shape shifter. Wondered why it looked like the Slayer. Guess now we know.”
Dawn looked down at the slime covered alien demon and shook her head slowly. That had been what she’d seen? Her inspection was interrupted when the man who’d been thrown in the dumpster planted himself in front of her, looking her up and down deliberately. She couldn’t even make out his features under all the crap covering him, but he seemed to have forgotten his current appearance. White teeth flashed as he smiled slowly. For some reason, she found herself blushing. He had a really direct way of looking at a person.
“So, who’s the tasty treat?” He murmured, that smile turning a bit lazy and inviting. Tara gave a strangled gasp and she heard Spike growl quietly.
“Watch it, mate.” Dawn could hear the scowl on his expression. “The Niblet ain’t for gawkin’ at.”
“Niblet, is it?” the man murmured, looking her up and down again. “You sure about that? This dress is absolutely made for gawking at. Woman wears a dress like that, gawking the last thing she wants to avoid. Not that I’m complaining, really. She’s all kinds of sexy.”
Dawn felt her face grow hot with embarrassment when she realized how revealing her dress was. Not that she was really ashamed. It was just that Tara and Spike had both been people who’d looked after her and cared for her. It felt a little weird wearing something so adult in front of them. Yeah, that was it. It had nothing to do with the weird guy looking at her like he wanted to make a meal of her. Not at all.
“No one calls me that but Spike,” she frowned, ignoring his leer. “I’m Dawn.”
“Gate,” Spike muttered, taking his duster off and wrapping it around Dawn’s shoulders, taking a moment to ensure she was nice and covered up. He ignored the other man’s chuckle. “Take the beastie back, eh? Need to have it all locked up and secure before it wakes. Wouldn’t want you to have to tackle it again.”
“We probably have a few more minutes to spare,” the man, Gate, argued, still watching Dawn. Now that she was covered, he was looking into her eyes instead of wandering her body. She felt herself flush. That was almost worse. He really had the strangest blue eyes. Wait, what?
“You know,” she burst out, letting anger take care of the discomfort “You’re pretty cocky for a guy covered in shit. What kind of stupid name is Gate, anyway?”
His grin widened and he laughed. “I dunno, what kind of name is Dawn?”
“Gate,” Tara murmured, sounding vastly uncomfortable. He smiled at her, his smile shifting instantly from a leer to affection.
“Sorry, Mom.” He made like he was going to hug her, but she squeaked and jumped away, laughing a little. “Right. I see my affections are destined to be rejected by everyone tonight. I’ll take the bitch back and grab a shower. Don’t be too long. You know he’ll bitch if you’re late.”
“Mom?” Dawn gasped, feeling a bit faint as she stared at Tara in shock. The witch just smiled at her though.
“That’s just what he calls me, Dawnie. No need for freakage. Well, anymore than we already have anyway.”
Gate bent down to touch the unconscious shape shifter, looked up to wink at Dawn once, then both he and the prisoner disappeared.
Okay, Dawn thought uncertainly, not a vampire then.
“Don’t mind him,” Tara assured her, hugging her a third time. “He’s harmless. I missed you, Dawnie.”
“I missed you too, Tara.” Dawn sniffed, putting the weird man out of her mind. Spike and Tara. Alive. Standing there talking to her.
“We should move, pets,” Spike said after a moment. “Want to talk but this isn’t the place. You coming, with, nib?”
“Try and stop me,” Dawn said determinedly.
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The ride in Spike’s car wasn’t really awkward but it was very quiet for the first few moments. All three of them were absorbing the unlikely reunion, getting comfortable in the knowledge that it had actually happened. The silence didn’t last, of course.
“What do you mean, you sent me letters?” Dawn demanded eventually. She was sitting in the passenger seat of the Desoto, with Tara behind her.
“Dawnie, I’ve sent you a letter a month for years now,” Tara murmured slowly. She was beginning to suspect what had happened and she wasn’t pleased. She didn’t want to jump to conclusions, though. Spike had no such reservations.
“Bloody git never gave them to her,” he snarled, glancing at the witch in the rearview mirror. “Don’t go giving me the puppy eyes, Glinda. You know damned well that’s what happened.”
“Who?” Dawn was beginning to feel the stirrings of real anger now. She’d been shocked in the alley. Upset and feeling betrayed by her friends. But it was becoming obvious that they weren’t the ones she needed to be angry at. “It wasn’t Buffy, was it? She wouldn’t do that.”
They were both quiet for a moment, then Spike muttered. “The Watcher, Niblet.”
“We’ve been sending letters to Giles,” Tara sounded really upset, wondering if her other letters had gotten through either. “I’ve sent a lot. To all of you. And I know Spike has sent some as well.”
“Sent a few,” he nodded, then glanced at Dawn noticing her hurt look. “You didn’t exactly like having the Big Bad around last time I saw you, Dawn. When you never answered, I figured you’d prefer it if I just kept my distance.”
“I was mad at you,” she shot back, poking him in the shoulder “Family is allowed to get mad. That doesn’t mean I don’t want you in my life. I cried myself to sleep for months after you died! Stupid vampire!”
“Relax, pet,” he looked quite pleased and for a moment she wanted to poke him again. Stupid vampire.
“No,” she scowled “I’m going to kill Giles. I mean really kill him.”
“He must have had a reason,” Tara said weakly, sounding as though she didn’t believe it either. Then, in a pained voice, she asked “Dawnie, does Willow know I’m alive? We were going to keep quiet about it. It seemed important. No, it was important. But after we saw Giles, we knew we couldn’t just… leave it at nothing.”
“Oh God,” Dawn whispered “Willow.”
“Red doesn’t know,” Spike said, his voice low and hard. “Might be killing the Watcher myself.” It wasn’t anger in his threat, like it had been with Dawn. He was really thinking about it.
There really wasn’t much to say after that, so they simply drove in silence until they reached a large two story house and pulled into it’s driveway. They got out in silence and walked to the door, with Dawn claiming Tara’s hand firmly. The witch was more than a little upset. She seemed close to tears at the thought of Willow being unaware of her return.
Spike led them into the house and Dawn was a bit surprised to see how homey it was. It was fully furnished with comfortable furniture and had a lived in look. She did get a touch of amusement over the fact that Spike seemed to be living in a house that had rose embroidered curtains and at least two dozen plants but she decided to save that teasing for later. A huge sword at least as tall and probably heavier than she was rested against the couch and she noticed a crossbow sitting on top of the cable box on top of the television.
“Gate,” a voice shouted from the kitchen. “Do you know if their friend is a vegetarian? I know this amazing recipe for vegetarian kebob that I’ve been dying to try out.”
A second later, Dawn saw Clem emerge from the kitchen, complete with a chef’s hat and a bright red apron with the words “Kiss the Chef” on it. He appeared to be stirring eggs in a bowl.
“Clem!” Dawn squealed, running over and throwing her arms around the wrinkled demon.
“Dawnie!” He hugged her back, trying to juggle the excited young woman and his bowl without spilling. “How you been girl? It’s been forever! How do you like college?”
“Oh, it’s fine. You know how it is, kinda strange being on your own and all.” she smiled, then paused. “Wait, how do you know I’m in school?”
Clem broke the hug, nodding commiseration with her issues with school, but it was Spike who answered. He still sounded extremely pissed. “Watcher sends a letter now an then. Let’s us know how everyone is.”
He stalked off into another room and she heard him shouting for Gate. Tara drew her attention away from the irate vampire and led her to the couch, smiling. Dawn followed, trying to determine if she wanted to be pissed or overjoyed. Happiness won out, if barely.
“Okay, Tara. I want to know everything.”