"Anya," Buffy said in astonishment. She rushed to engulf the other woman in a big hug. Buffy was so happy to see a familiar face, she didn't even care that it was Anya.
"Demon-girl, what are you doing here?" asked Spike. He lifted his hand in greeting.
"I got killed defending that stupid nerd, Andrew," the ex-vengeance demon replied, "But that isn't why I am here. The Powers That Be thought you might beat up Whistler after his last visit. So, they sent me to talk to you." She waved back at Spike, and then she dropped her hands to her sides.
Buffy snorted. "Little troll." The PTB knew her well since last time she threatened the smelly little demon with excruciating pain. Buffy dropped her arms from around Anya, and then she returned to Spike's side. She leaned against him as his arm moved around her to pull her closer. She encircled his body with her arms, and she linked her fingers together on the other side of him. "The Powers That Be you say?? That can't be good!" Buffy muttered, grumpily.
"No, it's okay, Buffy, honest..." sputtered Anya quickly, "Things didn't happen the way they were supposed to. The PTB were looking for a certain set of events to happen. They thought that you and Angel would set things in motion, but he left breaking your heart." She sighed. The PTB weren't too happy with Angel right now. "He made your heart hard. Then, Willow did her "Thy Will be Done" spell that made my poor Xander a demon magnet, and they saw you two. I never said anything, but you two were so cute and hot." Anya pretended to fan herself with one hand. She smirked at the blond couple.
Buffy laughed a little at the statement. Before it had been just another memory that she had wanted to forget. Buffy stuck her lip out in a pouting tease.
Spike looked down at Buffy, and he thought, Oh, pouty! Look at that lip. Gonna get it. Gonna get it good.Buffy looked up at Spike in surprise. She arched her eyebrow before she thought back at him, What did you say, Spike? I can hear your thoughts.
Part of the claim, luv. Just means that we are totally in sync with each other, Spike remarked. He hadn't realized the claim was going to be so strong so soon. He leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the lips.
"Alright, you two. Quit talking about me behind my back," said Anya. She had seen the way the Slayer and the vampire were acting. It didn't take much for her to realize they were communicating through their claim. This was better than the PTB had hoped for. It was one of the reasons that the PTB had left the two of them in the white room alone for so long.
"No! We aren't talking about you, Anya," replied Buffy, "We just found out something about the claim." Then she realized Anya had been teasing them. Buffy smirked at the ex-vengeance demon. She always felt uncomfortable around Anya before, especially after the incident with Spike and Anya at the Magic Box. Now, she was starting to feel a bit of kinship with her.
"So, Demon-girl. What's this about Red's spell?" asked Spike, "Some how I don't think Will got any of her scenarios wrong with that little spell."
Anya chuckled at the vampire's comment. "Be that as it may, we need to get this over with. There's not a lot of time to go over everything. The two of you were supposed to fall in love a lot sooner. The spell was suppose to be the catalyst."
"Would have been nice if someone had told us that," Buffy muttered, "Instead of making me go spit spit Spike lips, lips of Spike spit spit." She sighed.
"I wasn't much better, luv," Spike replied comfortingly, "I denied my feelings for another whole year myself."
"Time factor, guys." Anya interrupted. "Since that didn't happen you're being sent back to when the spell was happening to start over." Anya paused for a moment. "You get to change things because you've proved yourselves. You're now the Immortal Champions of your dimension and the true Guardians of the Hellmouth. Guess it is more than a cellular sunburn you brought back from Heaven there, Buffy."
"Immortal? Does that mean we are going to watch everyone we love wither and die?" cried Buffy. She tightened her arms around Spike. Buffy was glad that she would be with her mate for a very long time, but the thought of having everyone else grow old saddened her immensely.
"Oh no, no, no!" Anya hurried to assure the distraught Slayer. "They don't want to be cruel to you both. You're going to be given the chance to elevate twelve companions to the same immortality as you have. These companions will share your immortality with you."
"We get to choose them?" Buffy asked, "Anyone we want?" Buffy's mind raced as she thought about her friends. We so need to make sure some thing change, Spike, she cast the thought towards her mate.
Agreed, luv, Spike replied back through the claim.
"When you pick your companions the PTB will know and act accordingly. It will be up to you to decide about any special powers or limitation of powers that your companions have." At this Anya coughed Willow's name out. "When you return to Sunnydale, you will go back to when Willow's "Thy Will Be Done" spell was occurring. All memories, souls, non-chippage, immortality...etc will be intact as it is now. You better make sure Xander doesn't leave me at the altar this time. Oh, make sure Willow gets help for her little witchy problem. Any questions?" Anya finished in a rush. It appeared she was going over all the points in her head to make sure she covered each of them.
Are we ready, luv?, Spike asked through the claim. He wasn't exactly thrilled to be going back to that exact moment in time, but as long as he and the Slayer were together he expected he could live with it.
"Ready, Randy," Buffy answered out loud. The statement had all three chuckling.
"Oh, that's going to be so aggravating to our past selves, you know," Anya grumped, She couldn't believe that Spike and Buffy just nodded at her while they grinned like Cheshire cats. "Oh, another thing, the PTB are going to send Faith a Slayer dream about you burning up in the Hellmouth. They didn't want the two of you to fight again. It's better that you two have an understanding like right before the end of the battle with the First."
Spike grumbled at the thought that he was going to be popping back into Giles' apartment tied to a chair. He remembered the pain of hunger that he'd felt at the time as well as the bruises that were still healing. He rested his forehead against Buffy's. This isn't going to be easy.
I know, but we'll be sure things are different this time. I promise, Buffy reassured her mate through their link.
"One last thing, let's change the clothes and hair to match what you both were wearing then." Anya snapped her fingers. With a flash of light, Spike and Buffy's appearances changed to how they had looked during Willow's spell. Their clothes changed, and Buffy's hair grew longer and curled all the way down.
All three of them hugged and said their
good-byes. Then, Anya snapped her fingers again. Buffy and Spike
disappeared from the white room. "Good luck, guys," Anya whispered
after the pair disappeared. With a flash of light, Anya vanished as
well.