Fic: "Starlight", Parts 10,11,and 12

["jbstories _" <jbstories@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey,

Just as a re-cap since I know it's been forever since the last update :) as
a reminder in the following parts the gang is going after the demon that has
what they need to hopefully restore Buffy's legs.

Now that that's over...Enjoy!

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Part Ten
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"You can't be bloody serious!" Spike exclaimed looking at the object Giles
had just thrust in his direction.

"If he doesn't want it, I'll take it," Xander graciously volunteered.

"I bet you would," Spike responded shooting Xander and irritated look, but
hugging the flashlight closer to him nonetheless. "Who was the git that
came up with this brilliant idea anyway?"

"In her former confrontation with the demon Buffy discovered the light
damaged it," Giles responded shifting the sword he had flung over his
shoulder.

"Oh, and look how bloody well that turned out for her," Spike replied
without missing a beat.

"If you're too scared to go through with this, then just leave," Willow said
speaking for the first time since the disagreement started.

"Scared?! I'm William the goddamn Bloody and you think I'm scared of some
cross-eyed, overgrown, newt?" Spike declared clearly insulted. "Well, sucks
to that."

"William the Bloody, Attila the Hun…it doesn't change the fact that you're a
yellow-bellied coward with hair to match. After all that Buffy's done for
you-despite all reason-after all that we've all done for you, you still
can't see past your own desires…fine I get it, you're evil. So I'm not
going to pretend to be shocked or disappointed by your complete lack of a
spine. But next time you're getting ready to impale yourself on a stake,
don't expect anyone to come running to your rescue encouraging you to go
on," Willow responded shaking her head-for despite what she said she was
disappointed with the way Spike was acting. There was some decent part of
the vampire, she was sure of it. Sure, that part was deeply hidden-deeply,
deeply hidden- but she was certain that it existed. "Come on," she said
turning to Giles and Xander.

Spike watched them begin to walk away.

"I didn't say I wasn't going to come!" he called after them. "I just
question the wisdom of using a person who got their ass kicked as a
template," he muttered under his breath as he jogged to catch up to them.

================================================================

Giles took one last look at the map and directed them into the final tunnel
that would take them to the final grotto of the caves. The walk had been
silent, tense, and though Giles wouldn't admit it if someone asked-not that
he actually expected anyone too-but he was looking forward to getting in
there and making the demon pay for what it had done to all of them.

"This it?" Xander asked when Giles came to a stop.

"Yes," Giles responded. "Lights on," he continued and dutifully all of them
turned on their flashlights.

"Are you going to count to three, or can we just bloody go in?" Spike asked
positively hopping up and down. He had been in much better spirits since
finding out he could hurt demons-which wasn't by any means saying that he
was in good spirits.

"Let's go," Giles said waving his hand towards the opening.

Xander was the first into the opening, and just as he always wanted it WAS
much in the style of John Wayne.

"We've come to kick ass and chew bubble gum! And guess what, we're all out
of bubble gum!" Xander declared flashing the lights beam around the cave.

The moment he finished speaking, the room was filled with a wretched
screeching sound, then the room erupted into a fury of motion.

===============================================================

Part Eleven
-------------

Xander ducked under a burly tentacle-like appendage that was aimed directly
for his head, and skittered off over to the side just barely avoiding
becoming the headless Xand-man. Trying to regain his balance he just barely
avoided knocking over Willow who was barely holding onto her already
precarious state of balance behind him.

"Giles man, have you got with the stabbing yet?!" Xander yelled hurling
himself and Willow out of the range of another bone-breaking punch that was
all for them.

"Patience is a virtue," Giles yelled back moments before getting knocked
against the cave wall. "I'll work faster," he muttered to himself pushing
off the wall and twisting out of the way of another intended blow.

"You okay Will?" Xander asked getting off of her. His 'avoiding death'
push, turned out to actually be an 'oh God don't let me die' shove that
ended with him on top of Willow.

"I will be once you g-e-t o-f-f!" Willow said grunting slightly as she
attempted to aid Xander in the removal process.

"Righ…tttttttt!" Xander started to respond before getting some more help
from the Scheaklar which latched onto the back of his pants and pulled him
up into the air.

"One thing you have to admit," Spike yelled joining in after seeing Xander
get flung around. "It's got multi-tasking down to an art form," he went on
ducking under a tentacle and coming up in front of the beast to start
pummeling its head.

"Pain, my new best friend," Xander groaned picking himself up off of the
ground and stumbling back into the fray.

Giles who had managed to pull his sword from it's sheath charged the demon
arching the blade above his head, before lowering the blade swiftly, cutting
off the one of the demons limbs.

"Why, I repeat, WHY are we not using our flash lights?!" Giles yelled
peevishly jumping out of the way of yet another counter attack.

"Oh, I don't know…maybe because we're playing bumper cars WITHOUT THE
BUMPERS!" Xander responded. "Again with the ouchy," he mumbled before
getting knocked to the side again.

Ducking out of the way of a free flying feeler Willow spotted one of the
abandoned flash lights and made a dive for it.

"I would like to take a moment to reiterate my former statement," she said
trying to turn the thing on, "that we SHOULD have gone with Velcro wrist
enforcements!"

"Perhaps," Giles responded. "And this is only a suggestion…we could discuss
this LATER!"

"Ohhhh," Spike said giddily catching the flashlight Willow tossed to him.
"Somebody's in a mood."

"Has everybody got one?" Willow yelled ignoring Spike's statement. She had
managed to locate the missing flashlights.

"Yeah, yeah," Xander answered in an agitated voice. "Let's turn 'em on,
let's turn 'em on!"

"Concentrate the burst," Giles called out to them as he attempted to move
around to the back of the beast. "All three of you aim for one section and
keep the blast there," he continued finally able to get himself behind.

Willow was the first to lock onto a spot. Seeing a red circle-which equaled
target-on it's stomach Willow locked her beam there and watched as it
started to sizzle. Xander was the next to lock on, then Spike--who finally
managed to tear himself away from raining a shower of fists on the
beast-aimed his flashlight with the others.

The cave was starting to fill with smoke, and the Scheaklar was in a
considerable amount of pain. The damaged caused by the initial beam had
more that quadrupled in size, and there was now a hole approximately the
breadth of a head.

The Scheaklar was howling in pain now, trying to huddle into a protective
ball. The talons it had been assaulting them with since the entered the
cave were now being recalled into its body, and it was lowering onto it's
hunches.

Giles waited until he was sure the demon was suitably distracted then he
stealthily moved in on it. Drawing his sword he raised it above his head,
and then without a moments hesitation he struck savagely, thrusting the
blade in between the Scheaklars shoulder blades.

The demon reared up, expanding to its full height and width, it's tentacles
extending out in all directions, once the blade was thrust into it. Giles,
and the rest of the gang backed up against the walls when the beast started
to revolt, endeavoring to wait out the outburst without getting injured.

"I think it's dead," Xander commented once the beast had quieted down. It
had been over a minute since it last moved.

Giles bent down and removed the knife he had strapped to his ankle.

"How very James Bond of you," Spike commented as he walked over to the demon
and started to kick it experimentally.

Giles ignored him and walked over to the body.

"I'm going to need a little light," Giles said as he bent down over the
body.

=============================================================

Part Twelve
--------------

Buffy sat in the hallway staring at the front door to Giles's house. She
had in fact been sitting in the hallway staring at the front door to Giles's
house since the gang left the house three hours before, and every minute
that she sat there felt like an eternity, and every minute that passed
without them walking back through the door caused this stabbing sensation in
Buffy's heart. It was like she was being killed a little at a time, like
she was being stabbed to death by a tiny little knife. This vigil that she
had been on was probably the hardest thing that she had ever had to do in
her entire life. She was wired for inaction, she wasn't built to sit still,
and be patient, and wait. She was the Slayer, she was suppose to move, she
was suppose to act, and she was suppose to be out there. And not being able
to do any on those things was almost as bad as knowing that her friends were
out there fighting a demon to save HER life.

In addition-as if all of that wasn't enough to worry about-she was left to
think about, and ponder, and doubt all of what had been happening between
her and Willow since her injury, culminating with their talk shortly before
the gang left. It was all very confusing to Buffy, everything was so new,
and just when they started to figure out what was going on Willow was taken
away from her. If there was like a scale-one being the lowest and 10 being
the highest- that catalogued the worst moments that something could possibly
happen this would have been a 9.9 on the scale.

Buffy had to admit, though, that it was quite fitting. If something had
actually gone well she would have had to assume that hell had frozen over
and would consequently have had move into a cabin in the interior of the
mountains of Montana.

However, since all of that was mere conjecture and things hadn't gone well,
hell hadn't frozen over, and Buffy didn't even like Montana, the Slayer was
left with only one option. Sit. So that is exactly what she did.

======================================================

Willow was the first one out of Giles's K-car, and by the time the others
got out she was halfway through the courtyard and to the door. She could
hear Giles calling to her but she didn't stop, she wanted to get inside.
She wanted to get to Buffy. The last few meters to the door seemed to take
forever. It was almost as if she was running in water. But finally,
finally, she reached the door.

"Buffy," Willow gasped spotting the Slayer sitting in the hallway facing the
door the moment she entered the door.

"Will," Buffy breathed softly taking in her friends somewhat haggard
appearance. "Are you okay? You're…"

"I'm alright," Willow said cutting off Buffy. The worry was evident in her
friend's voice and she wanted to alleviate it. "Just a little banged up,"
Willow continued looking down at her state of disarray.

Buffy visibly relaxed once this piece of information was given. This was
evidenced by a soft sigh escaping her lips.

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that," Buffy said finally.

"Oh, I think that maybe I do," Willow responded, her mind going back to all
of the times she had waited awake alone at night waiting for Buffy to come
home from patrol.

"Where are the others?" Buffy asked looking past Willow to the still open
door.

"They're com…" Willow managed to get out before the rest of the gang
appeared at the doorway. "…ing," Willow finished as the gang walked in.

"If this is what the winning side looks like," Buffy commented able to
observe all of them for the first time. "I'd hate to see what the loser
looks like."

"Oh, I'd say it's feeling no pain," Spike said breezing into the house and
ripping the overcoat from on top of him. It was just demeaning having to
walk around like all of the time.

"Did you get it?" Buffy asked finally, not able to hold back on asking the
question any longer.

In response Giles held up a small container with a fluorescent blue liquid
inside. Buffy stared at the vile for a moment. Her heart was thundering in
her chest, and her eyes locked on the glowing liquid. It was an odd
sensation to be able literally see someone holding your future in their
hands. Buffy had to say that it wasn't an all-together pleasant experience.
It was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating.

Finally Giles lowered the vile breaking the spell.

"Shall we?" he asked looking directly at Buffy.

"I think we shall," the Slayer responded.

======================================================

The gang congregated in Giles's bedroom, more specifically around Giles's
bed. Buffy was lying on her stomach in the middle of the bed with the other
gathered around her. Willow was sitting on the edge of the bed holding
Buffy's hand while Giles prepared the syringe.

"So," Buffy said in a somewhat choked voice. "Tell me again how we're going
to do this?"

"I," Giles said as he swished the liquid around, "am going to pour the serum
into a syringe. Then I'm going to inject the liquid into you spinal cord,"
the watcher continued calmly.

"That's what I thought," Buffy said whimpering softly.

Willow leaned over so that her mouth was right beside Buffy's ear. What she
wanted to do more than anything was hold Buffy in her arms and try to assure
and reassure her-by any means necessary-that everything was going to be
alright. She wanted to take Buffy in her arms and kiss away her fears.
But, she knew that there, then, she couldn't do any of those things without
raising more than a few eyebrows, so she settled for squeezing Buffy's hand
and offering a few words of encouragement.

"It'll be alright," Willow whispered softly. "Giles knows what he's
doing…you probably won't even feel a thing."

Buffy was about to thank Willow for at least attempting to make her feel
better when she got a look at the size of the needle on the syringe Giles
was preparing.

"What is that?" Buffy asked in voice squeaking in alarm. "I mean, you
better be planning on going Whaling later, because that harpoon isn't
getting any closer to me or my spine," Buffy continued in an agitated voice.

"It's perfectly safe," Giles responded meeting Buffy gaze. He was finished.
"Let's get on with it shall we."

"Ah, did anybody hear me say that harpoon is not getting any closer to me or
my spine? I for distinctly remember saying it," Buffy responded.

Giles opened his mouth to respond but Willow beat him to it.

"It'll be alright," the hacker said softly. "You know it has to be done."

"But…but look at it Will," Buffy said pleadingly. "I've seen javelins that
a smaller than that!"

"Buffy," Willow said tilting Buffy's face up so that she could see her eyes.

"Fine," Buffy responded dejectedly. "But I'm warning you, I'm going to be
grumpy after this. Very grumpy."

"Understood," Giles said. "Now this won't take but a minute," he continued
leaning over Buffy's back. "You won't even," he said as he rested the
needle against her skin, "feel a thing…"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Buffy hollered as he sunk the needle in. "I SO felt
that!!!"

================================================================

That's it for now.

Later,
Janine

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