BtVS: "Surrender" (1/?)
May. 23rd, 2006 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alixtiiTitle: Surrender (1/?)
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rating: NC-17
Characters: Spike, Faith, and the entire ensemble.
Warning: This fic (specifically this chapter) includes noncon. Note also that I do not provide warnings for other types of material. Caveat lecteur.
Timeline/Spoilers: Goes AU during “Harsh Light of Day.” Spoilers up to “The Gift.”
Summary: “No,” said Buffy. “I can’t beat you. You win.”
Author’s Notes: For the What If? Spike Ficathon.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
deadsoul820 asked “What if Buffy had not been able to take the Gem of Amara from Spike in ‘Harsh Light of Day’?” and wanted mayhem and sunglasses. I have (or rather I will) significantly condensed portions of the timeline.
Chapter I: The Beginning of the End
Giles will never forget the moment when the world changed.
They carried her to him: broken, battered, beaten. Willow held the door open as Oz and Xander gently brought her into Giles’ apartment and laid his Slayer on the couch.
That was the beginning of the end.
*
“Her leg is broken—and so is her wrist,” Giles said. “Dawn? Could you get the first aid kit?”
The fourteen-year-old girl was off, racing up the stairs to fetch the kit. Giles continued to exam Buffy. The broken leg and wrist were her worst injuries, but she was covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises. Her breathing was labored but steady.
“Will she be okay?” Willow asked. “He was beating her pretty badly. It was all we could do to distract him and get her away.”
“She’ll live,” Giles said curtly. Slayer healing could take care of a lot, although this would tax it to its foremost. “The important thing is to stop the bleeding.”
Dawn returned with the first aid kit. Giles pulled out the ammonium carbonate packet first, broke it open underneath Buffy’s nose. Her breathing grew quicker, and after a few moments she opened her eyes. “Huh?” she asked groggily.
Oz and Xander had already pulled out the gauze from the kit and had begun bandaging her cuts. Giles turned back to the broken leg. Once Xander was done wrapping it, he would set the splint.
“How are you feeling, Buffy?” asked Willow.
“Like shit,” she answered, then grimaced and looked at Dawn. “Sorry, Giles.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” said Giles smoothly. “Dawn, could you call Joyce, tell her that Buffy is going to be staying here tonight? We won’t be able to move her for a couple of days.”
“What are we going to do in the meantime?” asked Xander. “Spike is still on the loose.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Buffy said weakly. “Giles, he’s invincible. I can’t beat him.”
“Don’t talk that way,” Willow said. “We’ll find a way. There has to be something we can do.”
“No,” said Buffy. “There’s nothing we can do. Spike’s unstoppable.” And then she closed her eyes and loss consciousness once again.
*
“Are we really going to give up?” Dawn asked him that night when she was finished watching Roswell . “Just let Spike win?”
Giles couldn’t help but glance at the unconscious Slayer. “I don’t know, Dawn,” he said at last. “Go to bed.”
Dawn made a face as she turned off the television but obediently began up the steps towards her bedroom. Halfway up, she paused and turned back to Giles. “Buffy’s the Slayer,” she said. “If she gives up, what’s left?”
Giles didn’t answer, and after a moment Dawn continued up the steps silently, leaving him alone with Buffy. “Les saules trempés,” he recited quietly to himself, “et des bourgeons sur les ronces—C’est là, dans une averse, qu’on s’abrite. J’avais sept ans, elle était plus petite. Elle était toute mouilée, je lui ai donné des primevères.” She was wet and cold, and I gave her primroses.
He placed a blanket over his sleeping Slayer, and then, with the feeling that it was a gesture of some poetic significance, turned away from her, prepared to go and give himself up to unconsciousness as he had commanded Dawn do, for the simple reason that there was nothing else that he could do.
*
“While The Changeling seems to merely be about the machinations of a group of nobles, its lunatic asylum subplot signals a deeper level of meaning. These two levels of meaning reinforce each other as they each provide a thematic counterpoint.” At least it was something like that that Dawn’s English teacher was saying. She wasn’t really paying attention.
“Antonio and Franciscus, the counterfeit madmen, demonstrate to us . . . Miss Lehane?”
Dawn looked up at the sound of her own name, startled. “Yes?”
“Perhaps you could tell us what Antonio and Franciscus demonstrate to us?”
Dawn frowned, trying to think fast. “They’re actually nobles pretending to be insane, so that . . . they show us that . . . we should look deeper when we read the play? Not be confused by appearances?”
“An impressive feat of thinking on your feet, Miss Lehane,” her teacher admitted. “However, you might find you are even more effectively able to engage the text if you actually listen to my lecture. I don’t know what’s going on in your head that is so much more important, but I assure you it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you paid attention to me for a change.”
No, mused Dawn. It wouldn’t be the end of the world. The end of the world was a vampire getting his hands on—what was it called? The Gem of Amoretta?—and now Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer and protector of humankind, was powerless to stop him.
Of course, her teacher just continued to drone right on. “Their subterfuge reveals to us the fluidity of identity. ‘What makes a self?’ the play asks. What do Franciscus the madman and Franciscus the noble have in common? Anything?”
*
It was days before Buffy was well enough for the Scoobies to convene. They set a time in late afternoon, so not as to conflict with Willow’s classes or Xander’s job. Dawn was already home from school, and was doing her homework in the kitchen without ever so much as looking at Buffy or Giles. Xander arrived first, with Willow and Oz arriving a few minutes later. They all seated themselves in the living room.
“Dawn,” Giles said, “go up to your room.”
She had already opened her mouth to complain when Buffy said, “No. She deserves to be here too.” Buffy paused, looking at every one of the Scoobies in succession. After a long pause, she sighed, and began to speak. “You all saw what happened when I tried to take on Spike. With the Gem of Amara, he’s invincible. There’s no way that I can beat him.”
There was a silence. “So what are you saying?” asked Willow. “That we just . . . give up?”
“I don’t know what else we can do,” Buffy answered.
“You can’t seriously be saying this,” Xander argued.
“There has to be another way,” insisted Willow. “Maybe we could call Angel and—”
“No,” said Buffy. “Spike’s unstoppable. Involving Angel would only get him killed.”
“Then a spell, maybe,” she said. “We could—”
“Do what?” Buffy asked. “You’ve been over the books, Willow. What do you seriously suggest we can do?”
“I don’t care what you say,” Xander said. “There’s always another way.”
“Not always,” Oz answered simply.
Dawn stood up. “So what happens to us?” she asked. “We just let Spike kill us all?” She ran upstairs, and they could all hear the slam of her bedroom door behind her. The other Scoobies just sat there, in silence.
“Giles, there isn’t any other way.”
He nodded at last. “I know.”
*
They found Spike that evening on the UCSD campus, near Lowell House. It was not yet twilight, and the sun could be still be seen over the buildings which lined the horizon. If it were not for the Gem of Amara, Spike would be ashes just by being out at such a time. As it was, he wore a pair of sleek sunglasses and a predatory grin. “Come for more, Slayer?”
“No,” said Buffy. “I can’t beat you. You win.”
“We have come to negotiate terms,” Giles announced. “What is it that you want, Spike?”
“What do you think I want?” Spike said. “I want you Slayer
“Okay,” said Buffy. “You can have me. Kill me, then leave Sunnydale and never come back. Promise to stay away from here and from L.A., and you can do whatever you want to me.”
Spike smiled, took a step towards Buffy, and placed a hand on her face, feeling the contour of her jaw and following it down to her neck and then her breast. He grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head; limply, Buffy let her arms rise and fall as the shirt pulled them up.
Xander took a deep breath, and Oz quickly reached out with his left hand, grabbing Xander’s right wrist and holding the boy in place. Giles reached out and held his other hand. Buffy had made her decision; it was not their place to interfere.
Spike continued to undress Buffy as she just stood there, not helping him but not resisting either. Her bra, her shoes and socks, her jeans, and finally her underwear, until she stood there completely naked in the twilight. He kissed her, slipping his tongue into her mouth, and still she stood still, not resisting. Spike unzippered his fly, then, picked Buffy up, and slammed her against the outer wall of Lowell House as he thrust into her.
Xander looked away, unable to watch. Willow closed her eyes; Oz slipped his free hand hand into hers. Giles stared forward, unblinking, not letting himself turn away from the sight of his Slayer defeated, forcing himself to face the very truth of his failure.
Spike’s triumphant moans and Buffy’s reluctant whimpers blended together to form a cacophonous duet, culminating in a grotesque crescendo. Then, in the silence which followed, he sank his fangs into her neck.
When he was finished, he dropped Buffy and let her naked, lifeless body fall to the ground. “I’ll be going, then,” he said, and walked out of their lives for what Giles seriously hoped would be forever.
And in the coma ward of Sunnydale Medical, Faith dreamed.
TBC. . . . here
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rating: NC-17
Characters: Spike, Faith, and the entire ensemble.
Warning: This fic (specifically this chapter) includes noncon. Note also that I do not provide warnings for other types of material. Caveat lecteur.
Timeline/Spoilers: Goes AU during “Harsh Light of Day.” Spoilers up to “The Gift.”
Summary: “No,” said Buffy. “I can’t beat you. You win.”
Author’s Notes: For the What If? Spike Ficathon.
deadsoul820 asked “What if Buffy had not been able to take the Gem of Amara from Spike in ‘Harsh Light of Day’?” and wanted mayhem and sunglasses. I have (or rather I will) significantly condensed portions of the timeline.Chapter I: The Beginning of the End
Giles will never forget the moment when the world changed.
They carried her to him: broken, battered, beaten. Willow held the door open as Oz and Xander gently brought her into Giles’ apartment and laid his Slayer on the couch.
That was the beginning of the end.
*
“Her leg is broken—and so is her wrist,” Giles said. “Dawn? Could you get the first aid kit?”
The fourteen-year-old girl was off, racing up the stairs to fetch the kit. Giles continued to exam Buffy. The broken leg and wrist were her worst injuries, but she was covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises. Her breathing was labored but steady.
“Will she be okay?” Willow asked. “He was beating her pretty badly. It was all we could do to distract him and get her away.”
“She’ll live,” Giles said curtly. Slayer healing could take care of a lot, although this would tax it to its foremost. “The important thing is to stop the bleeding.”
Dawn returned with the first aid kit. Giles pulled out the ammonium carbonate packet first, broke it open underneath Buffy’s nose. Her breathing grew quicker, and after a few moments she opened her eyes. “Huh?” she asked groggily.
Oz and Xander had already pulled out the gauze from the kit and had begun bandaging her cuts. Giles turned back to the broken leg. Once Xander was done wrapping it, he would set the splint.
“How are you feeling, Buffy?” asked Willow.
“Like shit,” she answered, then grimaced and looked at Dawn. “Sorry, Giles.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” said Giles smoothly. “Dawn, could you call Joyce, tell her that Buffy is going to be staying here tonight? We won’t be able to move her for a couple of days.”
“What are we going to do in the meantime?” asked Xander. “Spike is still on the loose.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Buffy said weakly. “Giles, he’s invincible. I can’t beat him.”
“Don’t talk that way,” Willow said. “We’ll find a way. There has to be something we can do.”
“No,” said Buffy. “There’s nothing we can do. Spike’s unstoppable.” And then she closed her eyes and loss consciousness once again.
*
“Are we really going to give up?” Dawn asked him that night when she was finished watching Roswell . “Just let Spike win?”
Giles couldn’t help but glance at the unconscious Slayer. “I don’t know, Dawn,” he said at last. “Go to bed.”
Dawn made a face as she turned off the television but obediently began up the steps towards her bedroom. Halfway up, she paused and turned back to Giles. “Buffy’s the Slayer,” she said. “If she gives up, what’s left?”
Giles didn’t answer, and after a moment Dawn continued up the steps silently, leaving him alone with Buffy. “Les saules trempés,” he recited quietly to himself, “et des bourgeons sur les ronces—C’est là, dans une averse, qu’on s’abrite. J’avais sept ans, elle était plus petite. Elle était toute mouilée, je lui ai donné des primevères.” She was wet and cold, and I gave her primroses.
He placed a blanket over his sleeping Slayer, and then, with the feeling that it was a gesture of some poetic significance, turned away from her, prepared to go and give himself up to unconsciousness as he had commanded Dawn do, for the simple reason that there was nothing else that he could do.
*
“While The Changeling seems to merely be about the machinations of a group of nobles, its lunatic asylum subplot signals a deeper level of meaning. These two levels of meaning reinforce each other as they each provide a thematic counterpoint.” At least it was something like that that Dawn’s English teacher was saying. She wasn’t really paying attention.
“Antonio and Franciscus, the counterfeit madmen, demonstrate to us . . . Miss Lehane?”
Dawn looked up at the sound of her own name, startled. “Yes?”
“Perhaps you could tell us what Antonio and Franciscus demonstrate to us?”
Dawn frowned, trying to think fast. “They’re actually nobles pretending to be insane, so that . . . they show us that . . . we should look deeper when we read the play? Not be confused by appearances?”
“An impressive feat of thinking on your feet, Miss Lehane,” her teacher admitted. “However, you might find you are even more effectively able to engage the text if you actually listen to my lecture. I don’t know what’s going on in your head that is so much more important, but I assure you it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you paid attention to me for a change.”
No, mused Dawn. It wouldn’t be the end of the world. The end of the world was a vampire getting his hands on—what was it called? The Gem of Amoretta?—and now Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer and protector of humankind, was powerless to stop him.
Of course, her teacher just continued to drone right on. “Their subterfuge reveals to us the fluidity of identity. ‘What makes a self?’ the play asks. What do Franciscus the madman and Franciscus the noble have in common? Anything?”
*
It was days before Buffy was well enough for the Scoobies to convene. They set a time in late afternoon, so not as to conflict with Willow’s classes or Xander’s job. Dawn was already home from school, and was doing her homework in the kitchen without ever so much as looking at Buffy or Giles. Xander arrived first, with Willow and Oz arriving a few minutes later. They all seated themselves in the living room.
“Dawn,” Giles said, “go up to your room.”
She had already opened her mouth to complain when Buffy said, “No. She deserves to be here too.” Buffy paused, looking at every one of the Scoobies in succession. After a long pause, she sighed, and began to speak. “You all saw what happened when I tried to take on Spike. With the Gem of Amara, he’s invincible. There’s no way that I can beat him.”
There was a silence. “So what are you saying?” asked Willow. “That we just . . . give up?”
“I don’t know what else we can do,” Buffy answered.
“You can’t seriously be saying this,” Xander argued.
“There has to be another way,” insisted Willow. “Maybe we could call Angel and—”
“No,” said Buffy. “Spike’s unstoppable. Involving Angel would only get him killed.”
“Then a spell, maybe,” she said. “We could—”
“Do what?” Buffy asked. “You’ve been over the books, Willow. What do you seriously suggest we can do?”
“I don’t care what you say,” Xander said. “There’s always another way.”
“Not always,” Oz answered simply.
Dawn stood up. “So what happens to us?” she asked. “We just let Spike kill us all?” She ran upstairs, and they could all hear the slam of her bedroom door behind her. The other Scoobies just sat there, in silence.
“Giles, there isn’t any other way.”
He nodded at last. “I know.”
*
They found Spike that evening on the UCSD campus, near Lowell House. It was not yet twilight, and the sun could be still be seen over the buildings which lined the horizon. If it were not for the Gem of Amara, Spike would be ashes just by being out at such a time. As it was, he wore a pair of sleek sunglasses and a predatory grin. “Come for more, Slayer?”
“No,” said Buffy. “I can’t beat you. You win.”
“We have come to negotiate terms,” Giles announced. “What is it that you want, Spike?”
“What do you think I want?” Spike said. “I want you Slayer
“Okay,” said Buffy. “You can have me. Kill me, then leave Sunnydale and never come back. Promise to stay away from here and from L.A., and you can do whatever you want to me.”
Spike smiled, took a step towards Buffy, and placed a hand on her face, feeling the contour of her jaw and following it down to her neck and then her breast. He grabbed her shirt and pulled it over her head; limply, Buffy let her arms rise and fall as the shirt pulled them up.
Xander took a deep breath, and Oz quickly reached out with his left hand, grabbing Xander’s right wrist and holding the boy in place. Giles reached out and held his other hand. Buffy had made her decision; it was not their place to interfere.
Spike continued to undress Buffy as she just stood there, not helping him but not resisting either. Her bra, her shoes and socks, her jeans, and finally her underwear, until she stood there completely naked in the twilight. He kissed her, slipping his tongue into her mouth, and still she stood still, not resisting. Spike unzippered his fly, then, picked Buffy up, and slammed her against the outer wall of Lowell House as he thrust into her.
Xander looked away, unable to watch. Willow closed her eyes; Oz slipped his free hand hand into hers. Giles stared forward, unblinking, not letting himself turn away from the sight of his Slayer defeated, forcing himself to face the very truth of his failure.
Spike’s triumphant moans and Buffy’s reluctant whimpers blended together to form a cacophonous duet, culminating in a grotesque crescendo. Then, in the silence which followed, he sank his fangs into her neck.
When he was finished, he dropped Buffy and let her naked, lifeless body fall to the ground. “I’ll be going, then,” he said, and walked out of their lives for what Giles seriously hoped would be forever.
And in the coma ward of Sunnydale Medical, Faith dreamed.
TBC. . . . here
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-24 07:05 am (UTC)Um... I don't know...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-24 12:19 pm (UTC)Faced with this, how Buffy would respond is, in my mind, an open question, so your "I don't know...." strikes me as a fair response. I don't know either, really, but this scenario is the one that starts my story. Her giving up conflicts in some ways (in many ways) with the plucky girl we see in the first couple seasons, the girl who blows up the judge with a rocket launcher, but Buffy does grow wiser as the series progresses, recognizing that there isn't always an option for success, and she certainly does get darker--even suicidal in seasons 5 and 6. I'm just speeding up some of the process as a necessary element of my AU in order to set up all that will come, which in this AU has nothing to do with Buffy at all, obviously. It's the premise of the AU upon which everything else is based.
Thank you for reading and responding!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-24 01:29 pm (UTC)But let's say the Gem makes it's wearer invulnerable to maiming. There's more than one way to skin a cat, as the saying goes, and even if Buffy were ready to die, it doesn't necesarily follow that the rest of the gang would be ready to let her do it. All through the series they've given her strength and help to overcome impossible odds. If she hadn't been able to take the ring, one of them would probably figure that if they couldn't kill Spike, they'd just have to render him harmless by some other means. They could, oh, trick him into walking into a pit trap and pour cement down on top of him. He couldn't do anything to anybody from inside a block of solid cement. Or maybe Willow could yank the Gem off his hand with her magic or restore his soul to give him something else to think about besides hurting Buffy... Now, maybe their tricks wouldn't work, I just can't see all of them at once giving up like that. Sorry.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-24 01:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-24 01:54 pm (UTC)I just don't know.