Needed

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the setting of the story. All things I borrowed from the Buffyverse are a creation of and belong to Joss Whedon.

I have also borrowed several ideas and concepts from to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. (the mirror of Erised, the Room of Requirement)


Timeline: more than 9years after NFA ("Angel"), 10 after "Chosen" (BtVS)


Beta: Rachael


Chapter 10


Of course she ran away. Wesley closed his eyes, and shook his head. The world was really coming to an end if Faith had been the one to keep her head. He had been somewhat flattered to learn that she had been thinking about him when the cave had 'scanned' her. He had been more than a little intrigued to learn that she had slept with his "evil twin", and not just once, but on a regular basis, for eight years. Strange as that was, at least there was some precedent for her desire. His own lust, however, had been sudden and unexplainable.


It wasn't as if he ha even been thinking about her in a sexual way. No. He was lying. There had always been an undertone of sexuality in the way he had related to Faith. Even during their worst moments.


He was surprised to hear the door opening. She had returned!


"Don't get your hopes up, loverboy. She's not coming back," Spike said.


The vampire sat on the only chair in the room, and lit a cigarette without asking permission. Wesley sat up on the bed, arranged his glasses, and prepared himself for the lecture that was to come.


"About time we had a little chat," Spike said.


Wesley opened his arms in an accommodating gesture.


"Faith and I... we took care of one another for ten years. Kept each other out of trouble, had a few close calls, but always managed to pull through. As long as we were together. Never had that with anyone. Not even with Dru."


Spike didn’t say anything for such a long time that Wesley had to jumpstart the conversation again.


"What are you getting at? Are you warning me to stay away from her?"


"No. I have no right to do that. You can think that you know her, but there's a decade of history between the two of us that you know nothing about. I bet she hasn't told you a lot of things. Like the reason why she ran out of your bed just now, for example."


"Was there something to explain? She realized it was a mistake."


Spike looked at him with an amused expression.


"You're a little dense sometimes," he said.


"What do you mean?"


"It might not have been the ideal time and place, but a mistake it was not. She wanted you. She's been edgy ever since you 'came back'. I know she wanted to go through with it."


"Were you listening?" Wesley asked, and the thought of the vampire's preternatural hearing led to an uncomfortable awareness of his probably equally acute sense of smell. He must be stinking of arousal.


"Didn't have to, mate. We're bound by blood."


"Bound," Wesley repeated, wondering why he wasn't more surprised.


"You know what this entails," Spike said gravely.


Wesley nodded. A blood bound between a human and a vampire was the closest thing to siring. The bond was created by a mutual exchange of blood between a vampire and a human. Its purpose and result was that the vampire lent some of his strength to the human and the human lent part of his soul to the vampire. Faith, with her Slayer strength, must have been at death's door to need it.


As far as Wesley knew, the strength of the bond decreased in time, mostly due to the parting of the ways between the two partners. He tried to remember what the books said happened if they remained in such close contact.


"She's a part of me," Spike said, as if answering his question. "I can feel almost everything she feels. It doesn't work all that well the other way round, but it still made us conduct out 'recreational activities' as far from one another as possible."


Some more fog was lifting for Wesley. No wonder the vampire had been awake and had the first aid kit ready when they had come back from the cemetery. No wonder he had been so royally annoyed.


"So you're the reason she ran away earlier?"


"For the most part," Spike said with a shrug. "She knew I could feel everything, and she must've felt I was getting kind of restless. But there's something else. Faith was a lot more carefree about sex when you first met her, when she was seventeen. She's got more to lose now."


Wesley was having a hard time believing he was having this conversation. Faith had always been the cool girl, the bad girl, the sort of girl he hated that he wanted when he was younger. The sort of girl who wouldn't as much as give him a second glance then. The girl who hadn't looked at him. But then he had grown up and grown dark. Then there had been Lilah. And, all of a sudden, catching the eye of a bad girl had become possible. Almost easy.


"How much could you feel when she was inside the cave?" Wesley asked. His curiosity was fueled by the need to get information about their enemy as much as by a more personal interest.


"Nothing at all. Feeling her emotions can get stifling at times. But I got used to it. You can't imagine how frightening was that silence. It felt like one of my arms was cut off. I tried to follow her once or twice, but I got lost every time. Those guys who put the confusion spells on the mountain sure knew their craft."


"Yes, they did. We could use some mages of that caliber when we confront it."


"That bad, huh?"


"We can make it. We've seen worse."


Spike didn't seem to be on the battle ahead.


"You're taking her away from me. I'm trying to accept it, but it's hard. Still, it's better to know her with you than have her stuck in that damn cave."


Wesley didn't know what to reply this. That he had no intention of taking her away? That Faith would never leave the vampire? That she shouldn't? Not for him. That he may be walking and talking, but he was dead inside and, sooner or later, she was going to figure that out and snap out of this unexpected interest?


"Why haven't you two... got together?" Wesley asked just to break the silence.


"Cowards, the both of us. Sex has never brought either of us a lasting happiness before. I guess we never felt strong enough to risk what we had."


"Why did you come here?" Wesley asked.


"Oh. That," Spike said, snapping out of his pensive mood. "You better make sure you're not gonna hurt her. You are not over Fred. I was around enough when you were crazy about her and she didn't see you more than a shoulder to lean on. And I was around when you lost her. You seem to be handling things, but my guess is that you're gonna fall apart sooner or later. Mae damn sure you're not taking Faith down, too."


With that, Spike left.


'Maybe I am dense sometimes,' Wesley thought. 'But most of the time, I am not. And it's Faith will or her cowardice that's keeping you apart.'


For no good reason, the thought pleased him. Faith had preferred to share her bed with his unearthly twin than with Spike for a decade. That, in no way meant that, if it came to it, she would choose the real him over his doppelganger. Real... Well, as real as a man could be after a resurrection.


He got out of bed, still groggy. After this end of the world, he was going to catch up on his sleep.

~~~~~


Spike was making breakfast for the young Slayers. Wesley greeted them and went straight for the coffee maker. He was a tea man through and through, but some mornings simply screamed for coffee.


"How's the throat, Wesley?" Eliana asked. "You look like you have a collar," she grinned as she informed him helpfully.


"Better, thank you," he answered. "I thought it was Faith's turn to make breakfast?" he said, sensing something askew in the routine.


Wesley looked at Spike inquiringly. The vampire was the very picture of the innocence as he worked diligently over the stove. He drank his coffee in silence, thinking about this piece of information. Faith was worried about her son's safety. That was only natural. But she should have kept him close, where she could protect him herself, not send him to Xander Harris, who happened to be also living on a Hellmouth. What had made her suddenly decide to send Alex away?


Did she think that Alex was in danger because now that she had discovered his connection with the darkness? That was enough of a reason, but Wesley went further in his suppositions. Had Faith imagined that his plan involved harming Alex in any way? He couldn't feel terribly hurt that she would think so. After all, he had considered how they could use Alex's origin to their advantage in the coming battle. He had been spared the horror of the decision when he found no advantage in sacrificing the boy for the greater good.


On this premise, Spike's visit to his room was beginning to look like a distraction, so that Faith would have time to leave the house with Alex. Could they fear him that much? His magical abilities were not at the level to pose a threat to a Slayer or a vampire.


No. He complicated things needlessly. He was adding a useless dose of egomania to the useful measure of paranoia that had always been a trusted ally.


He found himself regretting the boy's absence. He was surprise to realize he had come to think of the boy as a friend. He was glad to be relieved of the choice of using his magical abilities in the big battle.


Wesley had taught Alex some basic spells and was surprised to discover that the boy had a huge innate magical potential. He had thought that the child had gotten it from Faith, but in the light of the previous night's revelations, he had had to reconsider the point. Still, no matter how powerful he was, he was better off away from this Hellmouth. Wesley only hoped that she hadn't sent him into danger instead of away from it.

~~~~~~~~~


Faith came back around lunchtime. Wesley watched her avoiding him like... he was going to say like a high school girl, but Faith had been bereft of a typical childhood and teenage years. She was hardly attending school when Kendra's death activated her as Slayer.


He kept watching her, trying to figure out how much the previous night's multiple revelations had changed her attitude toward him. He was not watching her willowy figure, or her graceful movements, or the way the long dark ringlets of her hair bounced around her shoulders, or...


He was losing his mind. They were hours away from a monumental battle, everyone was waiting for him to make a summation of their predicament and options, and he was looking at Faith as if he saw her for the first time. He had to get it together. He gave up denying the attraction, promised himself to explore both his feelings and hers once the danger was over. With that, he built a wall around the Faith sex issue, and brought the full measure his intellect to the battle.


Wesley waited for all five of them to gather in the office. He summed up what he knew and what he supposed about their enemy, leaving aside the aspects relating to Faith and Alex without difficulty. He ended the exposition with his conclusions.


"Therefore, as long as it is still trapped inside the mountain, it is within our ability to stop it. If it breaks containment, we do not have the power to stop it."


"Clearly, we should attack it as soon as possible," Faith addressed him for the first time that day. "But since it is not corporeal, and it does not materialize until it breaks containment, what do you suggest we do?"


"There is a way. Do you remember that the Master, the ruler of the Order of Aurelius, was mystically trapped inside the Sunnydale Hellmouth? I think we can do something like that."


"And you think this is within our abilities? That must have been a wicked powerful spell," Grace said. "Do you think you're strong enough in magick to cast it?" she asked.


"Not even close," Wesley answered with a smile. "I was considering something far simpler. We know that it is vulnerable to magical fire. And we know the place where it was able to tear through the fabric of the wards. So, if we place a Semper Ardens salamander inside the cave, it should keep it from getting out."


"A what salamander?" Grace asked.


"The magical salamander is a fire elemental creature. A Semper Ardens salamander is a species that, once it is activated, burns forever. It was engineered by a fifth century wizard. Wolfram and Hart were trying to corner the American market before we took over."


"That's it? Will it work?" Eliana exclaimed.


"It's not as easy as it seems," Faith said. "For one thing, we don't even have the salamander."


"And for another, the cave is guarded," Spike added.


Everyone looked at him.


"I was at a poker game in the back of DeVille's. There was a new guy, who, once he got well and truly drunk, started talking about this calling he's had, to come here and protect a cave in the mountain, and if he did so he would never have to worry about the sun again. I did some more snooping around, and it turns out that a not-so-small army of vampires passed through town."


"How come we didn't notice them?" Faith asked.


"They weren't causing any trouble. They were heading straight into the mountain," Spike answered.


"Not good news. Only vampires?" Faith asked.


"As far as I know," Spike said.


"Telepathic calling," Wesley muttered, his nose already buried in a thick tome.


"And you didn't hear anything?" Miranda asked.


"Because of the soul, probably," Wesley answered her instead. "This changes things."


"Not really. We can fight vampires. If the darkness breaks free, we're going to have a lot more and a lot worse vamps on our hands," Faith stated.


"She's right," Eliana said. "We are just going to have to make a path through them. Only one has to get inside and place the salamander."


"We still don't a have salamander," Miranda said.


"Hmm? Oh, yes, the salamander," Wesley said, raising his head from the book. "Should be here by tonight. I ordered one on eBad a few days ago."


"You know of eBad," Faith said, incredulous. "It wasn't around when you were alive."


"Actually, it was. Wolfram and Hart bought it from this failed wizard who started it as a scam, and turned it into a quasi-legitimate business under one of their subsidiaries."


"So, when the salamander arrives... we can go into battle?" Grace asked.


"We should ascertain the position and number of the vampires who guard the cave," Wesley said.


"I should go. Pretend I was called, too. Slayers as you are, they're going to sense you long before you get close enough to stake them," Spike said.


"It's too dangerous. They know you," Faith told Spike. "Isn't there any way we can do that without actually facing them?" she asked Wesley.


"There is a spell. It shows the location of every demon on a map," he answered.


"We'll do that then," Faith said.


"It might not work. That area is full of confusion spells," Wesley said.


"I'm going tonight," Spike said. "I'll call you as soon as I know anything. Those confusion spells don't mess with cell phones, do they?" he asked Wesley.


"They probably don't," Wesley said.


The vampire stood up to leave, but before he took even a step toward the door, the girls flocked around him. All three of them hugged him. At first one by one, then all of three of them. They surrounded him in a warm, loving embrace.


Wesley watched the scene, moved against his will. He had to admit that Spike was a champion. The vampire was too well known as a traitor to his kind to have a decent chance of passing for one of them. He knew it as well as Wesley himself that the best he could hope for was to be able to send them the information they needed.


"Take care, Spike," the girls kept telling him.


The young Slayers left the office with the vampire. Faith hadn't followed him. She hadn't wished him luck. But then again, she didn't need to do that. Spike could feel everything. There was no need for words.


Wesley looked at her. She seemed calm, but he could swear that she was fighting to contain a storm of emotions. He avoided her gaze, unwilling to glimpse the fear in it.


"Are there any special instructions on handling the salamander?" she asked.


"I don't think you should be the one to take it in the cave," he said softly.


"Who then? You?"


"Yes."


"Between the two of us, I'm the one who got out of it before," Faith said.


"It let you. Because it needed you to go back."


"Let's call it a precaution then," she said. "Just in case something happens to you and you can't go all the way. We should all know."


"All right," he agreed, knowing that he was going to do whatever it took to finish the mission. Because he didn't need to come back. Faith's life weighed so much more than his. He was living on borrowed time, anyway.


~~~~~~~~~


To be continued...