Shock

A/N: Chapter sixty one of the series.

Disclaimer: All belongs to Joss Whedon and the parties involved in airing the shows.

Feedback: Sure, as you wish.

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Outskirts of London, England

December 2017

Every fighter or soldier standing on the battlefield had seen how the events had unfolded.

They saw the decidedly difficult battle Faith had been involved. They saw how the vampire had spared the slayer's life.

They saw honor in a soulless creature.

They saw an epic battle between two so called soul mates, and bore silent witness to the struggle visible in the slayer's mind and body.

They saw the treacherous attack delivered by the seemingly honorable vampire.

They saw Faith's mad dash to save the other slayer's life.

But they didn't believe what their eyes were seeing.

Dawn, a slayer's sister, fell to the floor, her mind not believing she'd see again the vampire who'd once being her best and only friend.

A collective shiver ran through the hearts of all the noble warriors in the battle field, as the words of an angel rang true in their ears again.

The real enemy had been revealed.

Spike, William the Bloody, the legendary slayer of slayers had appeared.

And he had stopped Angelus from beheading the slayer.

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"What the fuck is going on in here?" Angelus asked, still not believing what he was seeing. "You are dead! You are fucking dead!"

"Hello to you too, Angelus." Spike smirked, his hand an iron grip on Angelus' leather clad arm. "What do you think you were doing?"

"Well, finishing the job neither of us could manage to do decades ago, so if you'd be so kind as to remove you god damn fucking hand, I'd be able to finish this!"

"Tsk. Temper, temper, old dog." Spike shook his head. "Like I said, you do not strike an opponent when she's down, even if she is a bloody nuisance."

"Remind me again, why am I talking to you?" Angelus growled. "Oh, yeah..."

Angelus' fist slammed against Spike's cheek, but the vampire held on even after the brutal impact.

"Now, that wasn't nice." Spike growled before returning the gesture and using the sudden distraction to sweep Angelus' legs and toss him backwards, turning him away from the semi conscious slayer.

"We play by rules here, Angelus." Spike spat blood to the side. "A fallen enemy isn't fair game."

"I seem to remember you snapping a slayer's neck when she was down." Angelus growled.

"Ah, that happened eons ago, Angelus." Spike growled back. "This is a whole different ball game, and it seems you don't actually know the rules, so shut up and let the grown ups talk."

Spike turned his back on a seething Angelus and walked towards Drusilla, whose eyes took a far away look.

"The bravest and wisest knight returns." Drusilla softly said. "Welcome back, slayer of slayers."

"It's good to see you again, love." Spike said as he caressed the side of Dru's face. "It's been too long, isn't it?"

"Far too long." Drusilla nodded, her face suddenly that of a young woman, no malice in it. "But we have work to do here."

"Excuse me?" Angelus shouted. "Not to be rude, William, but I thing we have it all under control here. You can run off and get killed again."

"You might want to take care of the slayer, Angelus." Spike growled without bothering to look at Angelus.

"The slayer is down, you fucking moron!" Angelus shouted again. "She's drooling the ground!"
"Not that slayer."

Without warning, Faith landed a vicious punch to Angelus' kidney, making him scream and feel blood on his mouth. He retaliated by swinging his sword around, hoping to catch something other than air. Faith ducked in time but a few hairs were lost in the process.

Her eyes were fixed on Angelus' sword and swung back and forth from the blade to the fallen slayer. Faith knew she had a chance in a million to manage to get Buffy from under the noses of the three vampires, but she also knew she couldn't leave her there.

She'd take her out or fall next to her.

"Stand still, stupid whore!" Angelus shouted, unable to strike the quickly moving slayer. His concentration had been shot to hell when Spike had interfered and mucked up his plans. He'd had the slayer at his feet and the vampire's interruption had saved the blonde's life.

"Dammit!" Angelus struck again and smiled when he finally managed to draw blood. Faith grunted and felt the air touch the wound in her left arm, cursing and realizing Angelus was focusing again on the fight.

If she'd been unable to touch Drusilla, she didn't know how well she'd fare against him.

So Faith did what she did best.

Improvise.

The slayer rolled on the floor, grabbed a fistful of mud, and threw it at Angelus' face.

The unlikely projectile found its mark, and gave the slayer the split second of distraction needed for her to reach her goal.

Now she had to hope Spike or Drusilla wouldn't react in time.

Faith stretched her arms as much as she could, and smiled when her right arm grabbed Buffy's dirty clothes. She grabbed them as hard as she could and pulled the indeed drooling slayer towards her. Faith rolled with her precious charge and in a fluid motion stood up and began running.

She cursed as she remembered she wouldn't be able to feel any of the vampires should they decide to chase her, but she pushed her limits and fears away and ran as fast as she could.

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Behind the fleeing slayer, Angelus furiously wiped his eyes and felt hot bile rise through his throat. When he finally managed to wipe his eyes, he scanned the ground and noticed there was no enemy around.

And there was no enemy at his feet.

Angelus roared and his face turned red with anger when he saw that the two vampires had not moved an inch.

"What is wrong with you!" Angelus shouted. "We had them at our mercy! We could have taken the both of them! They're the generals! What were you thinking?"

Spike chuckled and shook his head.

"You just don't understand. You're as thick headed as ever."

"Shut up, you pathetic excuse for a vampire." Angelus hissed. "You are not needed nor wanted here. You can go back doing whatever you were doing, like being dead. Drusilla doesn't need you. I am all that she needs."

Spike's smirk returned and he turned to look at the dark haired vampire. He smiled affectionately at her and ran his hand through her hair.

"That right, love?" He asked. "You don't need me here?"

"Of course I need you here." Drusilla nodded. "You are the true leader of our army."

Angelus' face turned even redder.

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Base camp became a steaming bowl of motion, as the soldiers regrouped and took their positions again. Commander Finn was in a delirious state but he'd delivered orders before succumbing to the fever assaulting his injured body.

Giles and the slayer's friends were confused but knew they'd soon have to react or attack first, seeing how the prophesized enemy had shown up.

And had strangely enough saved Buffy's life.

Giles stood forward, forgetting all attempts to keep him off the battle field, and opened his arms when Faith ran straight to him, carrying the unconscious Buffy.

Faith carefully transferred her charge and Giles cradled her to his chest, as a father would to his child.

"Thank you, Faith." The old man muttered. Faith nodded and saw Dawn Summers running towards her.

"You saw him." Dawn said. "Is it Spike?"

"He sure as hell looks like him." Faith gasped, feeling her legs burn from the abnormal burst of speed she'd demanded of them. "But he let me run right under his nose. Makes you wonder what the hell is going on."

"He also saved Buffy's life." Dawn said as she rushed to Giles' side, who had carried Buffy to a nearby stretcher abandoned on the field.

"How is she?" Dawn asked.
"Her heart beat is strong and getting stronger." Xander said. "We should get a doctor to see her, though."

"Already on it." Willow said as she appeared next to the unconscious slayer, panting from running to seek and find a medic on sight.

The doctor quickly examined Buffy, and carefully checked her head and neck, where ugly bruises had formed. He opened her eyes and flashed them with a small flashlight, and what he saw seemed to satisfy him.

"Seems she's ok." The medic said, putting everything away on a rush. "But we shouldn't dismiss a concussion or spinal trauma, from what the lady told me, she received quite a massive hit to her neck and head."

"She's a slayer." Dawn said. "She'll be fine."

"We don't know that." Giles said, fearing for his daughter's safety. "That was a horrible attack, Dawn..."
"She's recovered from worse." Dawn cut off Giles' words. "And right now? I guess we should be more worried about Spike's appearance and that absurdly large army that stands behind them."

"Mum?"

Everyone turned around to see Anne Summers standing a few feet away from them, a look of pure fear on her face.

"Shit." Dawn muttered. "Come her, Annie. She's ok, she just got hit in the head. A lot."

"God, she looks like shite." Annie muttered as she saw her mother. Giles was about to chastise her when he realized Buffy did indeed look like hell.

"She'll be fine in no time." Faith said, knowing she'd have to take charge until Buffy woke up. "We right now have to organize and decide what we're going to do."

Something clicked in Giles' mind and he turned to look at the young girl standing next to her mother.

"Annie? What is it you're wearing?"

"A coat, grandpa." Annie replied without turning to look at the man, her eyes fixed on the purple skin on her mother's neck.

"I know it is a coat, dear." Giles pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why are you wearing it?"

"Mum's attempts at getting me out of the battle." Annie answered.

"Seems awfully familiar." Faith spoke, having seen that piece of clothing once before.

"That it does, indeed." Willow said as well, staring into the worn leather.

"Hey, no big." Annie lifted her arms in sign of surrender. "It's not mine and I guess it's not mum's as well. There's even a pack of cigs in it."

Annie looked into one of the coat's pockets and came out with the mentioned pack.

"See? Morleys. Mum doesn't smoke and she said dad quit ages ago."

Annie's face fell at the mention of her father, and she turned to look where she could see motion on the battle field.

"Guess he isn't on the side of angels anymore." She sadly said. When she brought her eyes back to her friends and family, she noticed Uncle Xander standing very close to her.

"You shouldn't wear this, honey." He softly said. "This coat has a lot of history. Most of it bad."

"He's right, sweetie." Willow said, also standing close to her. "I guess your mother had her reasons, but I don't think..."
"She specifically asked me to get it." Annie replied. "Don't know why, 'cause she freaked out when I put it on earlier, but she wanted me to find it."

"There may be a reason." Dawn interrupted. "We can't argue about it now. If that stupid coat makes you uncomfortable, deal with it. We have more pressing matters to attend here, like, what are we going to do about that damned army, and why did Spike save Buffy?"

"Why did who did what?" Annie asked, feeling left out of the conversation.

"The girl's right." Faith said. "We'll have to prepare."

The slayer took off, wanting to prepare her slayer sisters to be ready and try to organize the soldiers left without the command of either Riley or Buffy. Behind, Buffy's family remained together, staring at the injured slayer.

"Dad, I guess you'll have to stay here and watch over Buffy." Xander said. Giles sighed but nodded.

"Will? Don't want to pressure you, but..."

"I'm the big gun." Willow said, smiling. "I'll stay behind. Looks like I'll help more if I use some small white magic to heal the injured."

"Why didn't we think of that before?" Xander asked, slapping his forehead. "Right, but don't over do it. We may need you to deliver those big bullets of yours."

Willow mock saluted and left towards the medic's tent.

"Dawn, Annie, could you be convinced to stay around and watch over my old man here and your sister and mother?"

"Sure do." They both replied. Xander nodded and stood up as well.

"What are you going to do?" Giles asked, seeing his son standing up and stretching his arms.

"What the other watchers are doing." The young man replied. "I will walk with them to battle."