dragonyphoenix

Title: Let's Do the Time Warp Again
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 457 - fugacious
Rating: PG
Summary: Part 27 of Shanshu
Word Count: 1022
Note: When he says fugacious, Will is quoting a poem: ' [ Late August ] ' - Poem by Ency Bearis

“Spike? What's wrong?” Granted, they'd been kidnapped by demons and dumped in a dungeon, but there was no reason, as far as Willow could see, for Spike to curl up in a corner. Oh, wait, Spike was human now and had amnesia. Maybe human Spike wasn't comfortable with weirdness, which was weird in and of itself given that whole devoted to Drusilla for a hundred years thing he'd had going on. Of course if he didn't remember Drusilla and he didn't remember demons, this would all seem kind of strange, but he'd lived with strange for so long you think it'd be ingrained into his psyche or something even if not his memories.

“What's wrong?” He practically shouted her words back at her. Maybe she'd better go slowly with the explanations. “I raped Buffy. I held a broken bottle to your throat. How can you stand to be near me?”

Oh. That. “You didn't rape Buffy. I mean, you tried but …” Okay, and maybe that wasn't the best way she could have worded that.

He dropped his head into his hands.

“Spike?” She tried a comforting pat to his shoulder. He recoiled further into the corner. “It's … You weren't yourself back then. You were …” Probably not the best time to bring up vampires and souls. “You were the way you were but you've changed since then. Reformed.” Okay, that didn't do any good. “Um, I know you're upset and all but we are in danger here. Maybe we could work together and worry about who you used to be later?”

When he looked up, he was wiping tears away. Spike crying? Okay, and now the world was officially wacky. “What do you think we can do? Door's locked.” He suddenly looked ashamed, as if his words were too mean or something. Willow felt like sighing. This Spike was going to take some getting used to.

Still, what could they do? He wasn't a vampire any more so he couldn't break down the door and that drink had messed with her magic. Get information, that was the first step. The more you know, the more you know. She didn't remember coming to the cell and she'd woken in his arms so she'd probably been knocked out. “How long was I unconscious?”

“I'm not sure but based on how often they're feeding us, a day and a half.”

That long? “Well, Xander was there when I was taken but we'd already been searching for you almost a whole day. It shouldn't be taking this long to find us.”

“A day?” Spike slumped against the wall which was sort of oozy but he didn't seem to notice. “Took you that long? Guess I should be glad you came looking at all.”

“Well, I had to fly in from Pittsburgh which took up more than half a day so maybe it's been only, like, three-quarters of a day that we've been searching but we started in right away. I flew back as soon as you went missing so don't you go feeling sorry for yourself Mister.”

He shook his head. “And the other eight or nine days?”

“What other days?”

“I've been missing more than a week, or did your friend Xander forget to mention that?”

“What? No. It's been a day-and-a-half or, okay, maybe closer to two, but that was before I was taken. We can't have been down here that long.” Willow looked for her bag. Shoot, it'd been dropped in the cafe. “Oooh, do you have your cell on you?”

“Doesn't work down here. I turned it off to save the battery.”

“But you could, you know, check the date.”

It seemed to take forever for the cell to power up. “But summer still taking what it brings, the August incense with fugacious wings.”

“What was that?”

“Would you rather I'd said 'time is fleeting. Madness takes its toll'?” He shook his head. “I just meant it's taking longer than I'd like.” He looked back down at the cell. “And here it comes … June 21^st? But … but the 20^th was just yesterday. That can't be. I've been here over a week.”

“Oh.” That's why Xander hadn't found them yet. “It must be another dimension, one where time moves more slowly.”

“Another what?”

Ooops, had she used her outside voice? Maybe she should explain now. Once they escaped, he was going to see the demons anyway. “Um, it's kind of hard to explain.”

“Start with why you thought I wouldn't have a pulse.”

He was going to have to know sooner or later. “Magic's real. Or, no, I mean, yes magic is real but that's not what I should have started with. Demons are real.”

“Demons. As in monsters.”

“Well, yeah, most of them are monsters, evil I mean.”

“So you thought I was, what? A zombie?”

“More like a vampire actually.”

“A vampire?” And okay, she shouldn't have expected him to get it right off.

“You used to be but now you're not which is bad, I mean it's good you're human and all, but you had to shanshu to do it which means now these demons can use you to end the world, which is bad.”

“Right.” He drew out the word. “I'm a vampire except I what? Got better? And those three skinny chicas are demons? Which makes you that Slayer they were talking about?”

What was his obsession with Buffy? Geez, even with amnesia he couldn't let it go. “No, I'm a witch.” Okay, and that didn't sound convincing.

“A witch.” Yep, so not convinced.

“Yeah, I am a witch and I'd prove it except that drink messed with my magic.”

“That drink? From a day-and-a-half ago.”

Oh. Yeah. Maybe her magic was back. She tried a simple spell and, hey what did you know? The door came unlocked. “Come on. We can get out of here.”

He pulled at a chain, one that shacked his ankle to the wall. She tried the spell again. When the shackle fell to the floor, he looked up real quick. “How'd you do that?” Guess that showed him.