No Hero

Author's Notes: It took me a few days to even start this chapter because I got an idea for another story, go me! Those of you who freak after this chapter, don't worry, the Spike/Angel truce won't last forever, because damnit, they're so funny when they bicker!


No Love, No Glory


“Themis, Titan of justice and order, mother of the Fates and the Seasons, hear our call,” Willow said firmly. The witch, her black eyes providing a sharp contrast to her white hair, sat cross-legged on the floor as the group waited for something to happen.

For a moment, it seemed that nothing would happen and their pleas for aide would go unheeded, but then the air shifted tangibly, and a gentle glow filled the center of the circle formed by those gathered. Themis’ presence was nothing if not reassuring, and she studied the group in silence for long moments before speaking. “You are the ones Mnemosyne spoke of.”

It was Xander who asked the question they all had on their minds. “If you knew we needed you, why didn’t you just come to us?”

“It was a test, Alexander. This is all a test,” replied the Titan.

Outraged, Angel and Spike demanded simultaneously, “All of this has been a test?!”

Buffy seethed in silence, and her former watcher shot her a reassuring glance when he feared she would say something to anger Themis.

“It is not my test, nor is it the doing of any of my brethren. It is the Soul-eater.”

“The… Soul-eater?” Willow asked nervously.

Xander added, “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Am I going to… lose my soul?” Angel questioned, preparing to distance himself from the group immediately.

“Were the Eater’s mission to be completed, it would devour your demon soul, as well.”

“Aside from the obivious,” inquired Spike, “what does this Soul-eater do, exactly? Why is it attacking us, and why take our memories? That's the test?”

“So we’ll give up,” answered Buffy, her brow creased with thought. “I… it was killing me, not being able to remember things, because that meant you were really gone. It would have been easier for this Eater thingy to attack me.”

“For a slayer,” said the Titan, “you are highly intelligent. Yes, I believe you are correct. Did the Eater remove its obstacles, it would be much easier to consume the world. You, all of you, are warriors, champions of the light. I believe that you would have been saved for last.”

“I-is the Eater corporeal?” Giles asked.

“Yes, very much so. The Eater is one of you, a human, though I am not permitted to give you the exact identity.”

“Permitted?! I don’t give a damn if you were soddin’ permitted, you’ll bloody well tell us!”

“I’m afraid I have to agree with Spike on that,” confirmed Angel.

“I expected your anger,” the Titan said gently. “It does no good for you or your childe to shout. I cannot tell you because I was not permitted to see.”

“We’ll try Prometheus, then,” Spike muttered, lighting a cigarette to calm his nerves. He wanted to throttle the Titan, but no, the bitch wasn’t corporeal.

“You know all too well what that is like, do you not?” Themis asked of the blonde vampire, laughing softly at his shocked expression. “Yes, I hear your thoughts. Here, I am not corporeal, nor do I think myself a bitch. Were it in my power to do so, I would show you the Eater’s human form.”

“It is human, though? And what about contacting Prometheus?”

Themis turned to Xander as she replied, “Yes, the Eater has taken human form, and contacting Prometheus will do no good. This is your test. You must find the Eater and bind its soul to its human form. Only then can it be killed.”

“We’re together now,” said Angel. “The Eater failed. It didn’t destroy us the way it wanted to, and now we can fight it.”

“How do we fight it? Can you tell us that much?” the slayer requested.

“And, um, from whence it came?” Giles added.

“Bugger that! How does it kill?”

“All good questions,” whispered Themis, “all I will answer in time. The witch’s strength is dimming even now, and the Eater will not attack today. Expect me when you are ready to know the answers.” With that, she was gone.

“Cryptic much?” Xander asked bitterly.

“Was I ever that infuriating?” queried Angel in reference to his habit of disappearing at random.

“All the time.” When Buffy remembered something the Titan had said, she glanced between Spike and Angel. “Your childe?! I thought Drusilla…”

“Bloody Hell…”

“That was nifty,” Willow murmured sleepily, collapsing against Xander’s side. Even a goddess found channeling the proper energies to make the Titan visible exhausting.

“Yes, well, I’ll help Xander get Willow to bed. Interesting as it may be, this is something best left for the three of you to discuss.” The watcher pushed to his feet and lifted Willow against his chest as Xander rose, and then they silently slipped from the conference room, leaving Buffy alone with Angel and Spike.

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“So… what did you tell her?” Angel leaned back against the wall, watching his childe curiously.

“I told her about Dru, how she found me, but…” Looking away, he forced himself to meet Buffy’s gaze. “What I never told you was that Dru was too weak to finish the job. She gave me her blood, but I was dying anyway. Angelus found her standin’ over me, wailin’ about how he was gonna leave her, how she… needed me.”

The slayer nodded her understanding and squeezed his hand lightly as she looked to Angel for confirmation. “So you finished it, you sired him.”

“Drusilla was right. I was planning on leaving her because her madness was becoming… tiresome, but that wasn’t what she meant. She meant the soul. Even then, she knew, but I just couldn’t stand hearing her screaming, so yeah, I gave him my blood.”

“Thank you both for telling me,” Buffy said, “it explains a lot.”

“Our eternal pissing match?” Spike joked.

“Your love for each other.”

“But we don’t love each other!” both vampires protested.

“My point exactly,” Buffy laughed.

“Bugger.”

“I second that.”

“Just admit it and save your… well, I guess you don’t need breath, do you?”

“He’s my bloody sire, damnit,” the blonde said dismally. “I may not like the bloke, but yeah, in my own way, I guess…”

“You stayed for years when you didn’t have to, you don’t have to say anything. And I never staked you when I had the chance, so… I’m hoping that’s self-explanatory, because Delia already told me I had the taste of a gay man, and I really don’t need… What?”

Buffy and Spike had both dissolved into a fit of laughter at Angel’s words, and soon, even he had to smile at the memory. Cordelia had been so happy then…

“Qu-queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the vampire edition!”

“Bloody Hell, don’t make me choke!” Spike chortled as he tried to take a drag off his cigarette.

“I am not gay!” Angel said firmly.

“I know!” Buffy giggled. “That’s why it’s so funny!”

“Oh, God, it’s happening again!” Spike complained.

“What now?”

“We’re getting along!”

“You… you are!” the slayer cried in shock. “I must have missed the memo that Hell had frozen over and pigs were flying.”

“Don’t worry,” Angel assured. “It never lasts long. I’ll do something to piss Spike off, or I’ll remember how much he annoys me and we’ll be at each other’s throats again.”

“Have you told her yet?” the blonde vampire asked.

“Like that,” the elder muttered.

“Tell me what?”

Glowering at Spike, the brunette dragged a hand through his hair. Then he did the unthinkable; reaching across Buffy’s lap, he swiped Spike’s cigarettes and lit one, inhaling deeply. “If… if I save enough people,” he began shakily, “I can become human again.”

“My God, Angel…” With a giddy laugh, she embraced him warmly. She knew how much it meant to him, how much he had longed for such a thing. “I’m so happy for you.”

“I’ll let you two –”

“Sit,” Angel commanded, surprising both the slayer and his childe.

Obediently, the blonde vampire remained seated.

“Buffy, I didn’t tell you because I thought it would make you choose me over Spike, I told you because I thought you should know,” he said dejectedly.

“Angel, there’s no decision for me to make,” Buffy whispered, releasing him carefully as though she feared that breaking the contact would somehow harm him. “I’m… I’m with Spike now. What I said to you that last night was just smoke and mirrors, and when I kissed you, it was just…”

“One last time, just in case,” Angel finished knowingly.

“Yeah.”

“I know. Now, I’ll get to work on researching the Eater. The two of you should… get some rest.” Painful though the words were to speak, Angel knew that he had to do it; he had to let them both go.

Buffy, for whatever reason, needed his permission to be truly happy with Spike, and his childe needed the reassurance that he wouldn’t try to come between them. With a heavy sigh, the benevolent vampire crushed out his cigarette and rose, offering a hand to Buffy and Spike both to help them to their feet.

Something akin to awe glistened in the slayer’s eyes and she took his hand and stood, and she kissed him chastely on the lips with a murmur of, “Thank you.”

Spike was less inclined to take his sire’s hand, but in the end, he clasped it and hauled himself to his feet, pocketing his cigarettes as he stood. “Yeah,” he added, “thanks.”

Without warning, Angel dragged the blondes into his arms for a hug, and while it lasted only briefly, it was more meaningful to all of them than any words, for they all know how much courage it had taken for him to do it.

“Liam… I'm...”

“Tá mé ceart go leor,” Angel replied with a pained smile.

“Huh?”

“He said he was okay,” Spike translated when his sire finally released them. The blonde vampire knew that it was physically painful for Angel to lose contact with the slayer; he knew from experience.

When he reached the door to the conference room, Angel took in the sight he had dreamt of seeing for years – Buffy smiling and happy. “Go maire tú an lá,” he whispered as he skulked down the corridor.

“Go raibh maith agat!” Spike called after him. At Buffy’s confused glance, he explained, “He said congratulations, I said thank you.”

“You speak Gaelic?” the slayer asked curiously, smoothing her hand over the center of Spike’s chest. She wanted to rip his shirt off and see for herself if the amulet had left a burn there.

“Angelus insisted on it, and if you don’t stop that, we won’t be resting like we should be,” he teased, but the mischievous glint immediately faded from his eyes at Buffy’s apprehension. “Pet?”

“It’s stupid, but… The last time we… you died the next day,” she whispered, finding a fascinating spot on the floor to stare at.

Nodding his understanding, the vampire closed his arms around her and rested his chin against the crown of her head. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but I’m not goin’ anywhere, luv.”

“I couldn’t do it again,” she admitted. “I couldn’t lose you again. When… that day in Sunnydale, I wanted to stay.”

“I thought you were gonna stay. My God, Buffy, if I have to die a thousand deaths, it’ll be worth it to know you’re alive and well.”

“I wasn’t well!” Buffy shouted, jerking away from him as though he’d burned her. “You didn’t see how I was when I was alone and knew no one could see me. You didn’t see Dawnie and me, how we used to sit around talking about how much we missed you!”

“The niblet,” he said fondly. “How is she?”

“Don’t change the subject! You were gone! You were always there, and then poof! No more Spike. No more annoying innuendo, second-hand smoke, bad punk music… You were just gone. You have no idea how that feels.”

“One hundred forty-seven days,” Spike countered. “I know exactly how it feels.”

Gasping at the recognition that Spike knew exactly how it felt, even if she had been gone for months rather than years, she launched herself into his arms and locked her legs around his hips.

Spike was instantly reminded of their first time together in that old, abandoned house, but he remained calm and stroked her hair reverently as she sobbed against the side of his throat. “Shh… S’okay, pet, I’m here.”

At length, Buffy calmed. “Spike?”

“Yeah, luv?”

“I think we should… go rest now.”

Drawing back to look into her eyes, he was relieved to find that he wasn’t being hopeful. She meant it. Grinning from ear to ear, he wrapped an arm around her hips and hurried from the conference room as though his very unlife depended on it.