The Return, Chapter Five ~ The
Beginning
From: "Little Slayer" <little_slayer@hotmail.com>
Author: Little Slayer
Email: little_slayer@hotmail.com
Title: The Return
Distribution: Anyone can have it. Just ask.
Rating: PG.
Author’s Note: Sequel to The End.
Feedback: If you don’t send feedback, I’ll sick
Faith on you like a
dog on a bone. Or in her case a dog on a…okay, I’m
not going to
finish that, but you all get the point. Actually, no, I
can't sick
her on you because of one really important reason…
Disclaimer: I don’t own him! Uh, her. Or
Buffy, Angel, Giles,
Willow, Joyce, and everyone else. They’re all in here.
I don’t own
Angel’s nickname of Peaches. The only thing I own is
Mya. She’s
mine. I created her. And so I can easily destroy the
skanky little…
uh, oops. All the Buffyverse people belong to Joss Whedon
and anyone
else who legally owns them. Anybody who has been either A)
mentioned
on BtVS, or B) seen on BtVS, I don’t own. I do own a
few people but
am too tired to name them.
Chapter Five, The Beginning
Buffy and Angelus
walked down the street, side by side.
Buffy played with a stake and Angelus just looked at the sky.
“It’s been
so long since I’ve seen the stars,” he said
quietly.
“They’re
beautiful,” Buffy said. *Almost as much as you,*
Angelus thought. He sighed and then watched as Buffy idly
played
with her stake.
“Are you sure you’re
up for patrol?” he asked. “That spell
took a lot out of you.”
“Since when do
you care whether or not I’m tired?” Buffy
asked.
“For a long time,”
Angelus muttered with a shrug. “You do
that.”
“Do what?”
“Weasel your way
into someone’s heart and hold on so tight,
that as soon as you start to let go, that person feels like their
going to die,” Angelus replied. “Only I’m
not a person. And I’m
already dead.”
“I don’t
know what to do,” she muttered, suddenly serious.
“I mean, here we are, back on earth. And the last time
both of us
were here together, we tried to kill each other.”
“Correction.
I tried to kill you; you just sat there.”
Buffy stopped in her tracks and looked at him, shocked.
“I did not!”
“You did too.”
Buffy glared at Angelus then he continued.
“We had something special…but that was then and this is
now. And in
hell, but that’s a given.”
“I love Angel. Still, after all this time, I love him.”
A silence
swam through them and they continued to walk.
“You love him.
So why are you telling me and not him?”
Angelus asked, suddenly quiet.
“Because I care
about you too. Ever since we…” She stopped
and looked down at the ground. “What we had can never
be. Simply
because of where we are and who we are.”
“I agree,”
Angelus said. “Doesn’t mean I like it, but I
agree.” They looked at each other for a moment, then
looked away.
The hairs on the back of Buffy’s neck raised and she felt
the
presence of other vampires. She whipped around, stake up
and ready
to strike, then stopped. It was Spike and Dru.
“Sheesh Slayer!”
Spike muttered. “Bloody hell, you almost
killed me!”
“Sorry,”
Buffy said. “But you know better than to sneak up
on me.”
“I warned him,”
Dru said. “But did he listen? Nooo. He had
to sneak up like some little bug and nearly get himself killed.”
“Did not!”
Spike muttered. Drusilla and Buffy looked at each
other for a moment and then smiled at Spike, shaking their heads.
“Do you two have
somewhere to stay for tonight?” Drusilla
asked.
“Um, not really,”
Buffy said.
“Well, we still
have your keys,” Dru said. “Your still
welcome with us.” Buffy smiled and nodded.
“That would be
nice,” she told them. Drusilla took out a key
ring and handed it to Buffy.
“So, you two find
any vamps?” Spike asked.
“None other than
you, Sit N’ Spin,” Angelus muttered. The
two vampires glared at each other, low growls being emitted from
each. Buffy and Dru only rolled their eyes and then gave
each other
small smiles.
“Well, we wanted
to find you two, let you know that you could
stay with us,” Dru said. “See you later, Buffy.
Angelus.”
“Drusilla,”
Angelus said with a small nod. The female
vampire latched her hand to Spike’s wrist and dragged him
away from
Buffy and Angelus. “That was…interesting.”
“Promise me you’ll
be nice to them,” Buffy said. Angelus
emitted a small whining noise and looked pitifully at Buffy.
“Promise,” Buffy said a little more sternly.
“Fine,”
Angelus grumbled. They continued down the street and
turned to go into the cemetery. The earlier uncomfortable
feeling
had dissipated with the arrival of Spike and Dru. They
moved in the
darkness, hidden by the shadows, and turned around a mausoleum.
Getting another strange feeling that they were being followed,
Buffy
motioned for Angelus not to move. She raised her stake
again and
turned to strike. Then she stopped.
“What is it with
you people sneaking up on me?!” she exploded
when she saw Angel. “First Spike and Dru, now you.
Didn’t I tell
you to yodel?”
“Yeah. I
just wanted…I wanted to talk with you,” Angel said.
Shifting uncomfortably, Angelus leaned against the stone wall of
the
tomb.
“I’m gonna
say that means you want me to leave, huh?” Angelus
asked. Angel started to nod but Buffy interrupted.
“No,” Buffy
said. “I don’t trust you to be good.”
Angelus
placed his hand over his heart in mock hurt.
“I’m hurt,
Slayer,” he said. “I thought you trusted me.”
“I trust you,
just not around other people,” she said. “I
can take you, they can’t. Simple as that.”
He smirked at her.
“I know you can
take me,” he said and suppressed a chuckle.
Buffy raised an eyebrow as a warning then looked at Angel.
“You’ll have
to forgive him. I didn’t give him his
medication today,” she muttered. “Look, Angel, it’s
been a really
long day. Very odd. I’m tired and gonna book.
No vamps are out
tonight. I guess I killed them all. I’ll see you
tomorrow, okay?”
Angel blinked, not really sure how to say what he needed to talk
with
her about was very important, and then nodded.
“Okay,”
Angel said. Buffy smiled at him then continued past
the mausoleum.
“Sorry soul-boy,
looks like I’m going home with her instead,”
Angelus muttered. A large stone flew and hit him in the hip.
“Hey!”
“Move it,
Peaches, or I’ll hit where I was really aiming!”
Buffy called out. Angelus raised an eyebrow then followed
after
Buffy, leaving Angel with one last smirk. Angel’s
shoulders sunk in
a defeated manner and he looked after Buffy. Angelus was
jogging
after her and she turned to give Angelus a half-smile, half-smirk.
“Oh boy,”
Angel muttered. “Oh boy.”
*****
Buffy slowly led
the way to the place where she had stayed
the last time she was in Sunnydale. Angelus followed after
her and
they walked in a peaceful silence. They got to the door and
Buffy
took out her keys and unlocked the door. She walked in and
looked
around.
“Uh, Slayer?”
Angelus asked. Buffy turned and looked at him.
He pressed his hand to the invisible barrier in the doorway.
“Oh, uh, come in,”
Buffy said. Angelus walked in and shut
the door behind them, then flicked on a light. Buffy yawned
and
walked down the hall, Angelus following. “The entire
place used to
be sunproof, but I’m not sure about now.”
“So what should I
do?” Angelus asked. Buffy opened a door
and walked into her room.
“Get a lot of
blankets, you’re sleeping on the floor,” Buffy
muttered. Angelus raised an eyebrow.
“Why can’t I
sleep in the bed?” he asked.
“Because I am,”
she told him.
“So,”
Angelus said, shrugging. “Not like we haven’t
been
there before.” Buffy looked at him, frowning, and
sighed.
“I don’t
want our relationship to be anything more than
friends. I don’t ever want it to be like it was in
Hell ever again.
Understand?” Angelus looked at her and nodded.
It wasn’t like he
had any choice.
“Yeah. Soul-boy’s
better for you anyway. You need a sap to
follow you around like a lost puppy, not someone who’s what
you kill
for a living,” Angelus muttered. Buffy smiled and then
tossed a
blanket to him.
“Here’s some
stuff for your bed,” she said and then walked
over to the closet. Her clothes were still hanging up.
They were
dusty, but they were still there. Buffy pulled out a long t-shirt
and left the room to change.
“Damned sun,”
Angelus muttered while laying out some
blankets. “I liked it better in Hell.”
*****
Dark figures watched as Buffy walked down an aisle. When
she got to
the end, Angel stood to her left and Angelus to her right.
“Come with me,”
they both said and took an arm. They each
went their own separate ways, pulling one of Buffy’s arms
with them.
“Stop!” she
called out. They only pulled harder. “Stop it!
You’re hurting me!” They still did not stop.
Buffy began to feel
her skin ripping and tearing with the pulling. The only
thing she
could do was scream.
“You cannot trust him,” Angel said.
“No, you cannot trust *him*,” Angelus said from her
other side.
Bloody began to drip down onto the ground under Buffy.
“Someone that
he trusts will betray you…again.”
“You cannot even trust anyone he trusts!” Angel
protested and pulled
harder. As he pulled harder, Buffy screamed even louder as
her flesh
began to peal off of her skin. A pair of strong hands
grabbed her
shoulders and began to shake her. Angelus let go of her
arm, as did
Angel, and they vanished. Now on guard, Buffy swung wildly
and
caught her shaker in the jaw.
“Ouch,”
Angelus muttered. Buffy opened her eyes. “Good
morning to you, too, sunshine.” Buffy frowned, no
longer in the
strange room of her dream, but in her home that she had lived in
before she had been sent to hell. Drusilla and Spike were
asleep in
the room next to hers. Angelus was sleeping on the floor.
Well, he
used to be. Now he was angrily rubbing his jaw.
“What happened?”
she asked.
“You started to
scream, so I woke you up,” Angelus said.
“Then you hit me.”
“Sorry,”
Buffy murmured.
“No, you’re
not.” Buffy shrugged.
“Okay, I’m
not,” she replied. Grumbling something about
Buffy having a bug up her butt, Angelus went back over to all of
his
blankets that were piled on the floor. With one more glare
at Buffy,
he rolled over and went back to sleep. Now wide awake,
Buffy, laid
back down and stared at the ceiling. She looked over at her
clock.
11:54 a.m. blared in bright red and Buffy groaned. Quietly,
she got
up and picked up some clothes from her closet. She gave one
more
glance at Angelus then went into the bathroom to change.
Angelus rolled over
and pulled the blankets over his head as
he heard water running in the bathroom.
“Damn, what a
weird dream,” he heard Buffy mutter. Then came
a soft, “Oh. My. God.” Angelus got up
and rushed into the
bathroom. His eyes widened as he stared at the same thing
Buffy
stared at in the mirror: the flesh around her neck and shoulders
were
stretched and bleeding. Their eyes met and Angelus moved
forward as
Buffy’s eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.
“Oh shit,”
Angelus muttered and gazed down at Buffy’s
unconscious body in his arms. “Oh shit.”