Buffy opened her eyes. Spike was gone. The basement was gone. The air felt hot and thick. She slowly rose to her feet and with wide eyes, scanning her surroundings, she knew where she was. She was back.

The Hellmouth.

She walked slowly to the edge of the abyss. Once, there were millions of Turok-Han. Now the pit was empty. No wicked energy, no evil voices. Nothing but a vast pit of rock and dirt. Remembering that time pained her. The events that led up to the big fight down here filled her with mixed emotions. Her friends giving up on her. Spike being there for her that night. Giving her the strength to fight. Where was he? Wasn't this entire town destroyed? Why am I down here, alone?

She was alone. Isn't that the way she was meant to be. She was kidding herself if she thought her and Spike could ever have anything. Her friends were all living their own lives. They didn't need her. Being the slayer was her true identity. It ruled her every thought, her every action, her every reason to be alive.

Buffy neared the edge of the pit and stared blankly at it. Hot air blew from it in a constant flow. Nothing had meaning anymore. She could rot down here and none of it would matter. Spike may die tonight, and none of this would have mattered.

The Grand Hotel

Dawn closed her phone. "Damn, no one's answering their phones!" she cried. She looked outside. There was no way of getting a hold of them, unless...

"Hey, Andrew. You know how to drive, right?" Dawn asked him.

Andrew looked up from the laptop and squinted. "Kind of. I drove a van for a little while," he said.

"Fine, then let's go!" Dawn yelled.

Andrew looked around nervously. "Well, actually. Warren did most of the driving. I usually rode shot gun. Jonathan would always forget to yell it out," he said smiling at the memory.

"Whatever, we need to get to them, except, I have no idea where to go," Dawn said looking at The Immortal.

"Dawn, you are the definition of adorable, but I can not go with you," The Immortal told her.

Dawn neared him, glaring into his eyes. "My sister could possibly be in danger. Spike is in danger. Now I know you don't give a rat's ass what happens to him, but I do and so does Buffy. If you care so much about her, then you'll come with us," Dawn told him

He nodded at his driver. "Fine. I will have Sergio get another limo, but I will remain in the car. I am not getting involved with Jean Trevaud!"

Dawn smiled then turned to Andrew. "See, now you don't have to drive," she told him.

Spike felt himself drift as Drusilla stroked his hair. All the events of these past days were washing away. No more pain, no more guilt, just faded images of the life he could have had. His head rested on her shoulder as she sang to him.

"Be not thus dismayed, young William he said,
As he pressed the dear maid to his side,

Nor my absence don't mourn, for when I return,
I will make little Mary my bride."

He saw flashes of his time with Drusilla. All the places they traveled together, wreaking havoc. Visiting city after city, taking what they wanted, killing who they wanted. She would go through her bouts of insanity and he would take care of her. Protect her. He never felt more alive.

Funny how that works.

She was never his, though. She didn't love him. He knew that. She needed him. That was the basis of their relationship. Needing, wanting, taking. It wasn't true love, now that he understood what true love was. Sometimes he felt like they were beyond these simple human emotions. He was bound to her in some way. There were nights where he would lie next to her and she would sing to him. Like now. Her words almost put him to sleep. He felt her moving in closer to him. Her ringlets tickling his face. Spike didn't flinch when he felt her lips touching his neck. He just wanted to sleep.

"Now, sweet William, I will take you back with me. All your nightmares will disappear. No more flesh. No more ash."

Drusilla sank her fangs into his neck. Spike felt the sharp pain and opened his eyes. His heart sped up, pumping his blood harder into her mouth. He was paralyzed.

He saw it all, his life.

William the Bloody, his mom, his dad, the kids at school, his bloody awful poetry, Cecily, Angel, Darla, the boxer rebellion, Nikki Wood, Robin Wood, Joyce, Giles, Xander, Willow, Dawn.

Buffy.

He saw her dancing at The Bronze, where he first saw her. Drusilla knowing what his heart felt before he did, the chip, Buffy kissing him, he saw her jumping from the tower. Dawn yelling for her to stay. He remembered crying at losing her. Taking care of Dawn. Seeing her again after Willow's spell, Buffy kicking his ass, telling him he was a monster. He was...he ...

Darkness surrounded Spike. His eyes closed. He swam in the darkness.

This was darkness.

The limo sped through the winding streets. Andrew fumbled with a champagne bottle. He tried to open it, then popped the cork. It flew and hit The Immortal's head. Andrew sunk back in seat, grinning nervously.

"Bastàrd!" The Immortal yelled.

Dawn rolled her eyes and kept her gaze on the road ahead. She felt like this was the longest ride in history! They had such important information, she had to get there in time. Before Spike... She looked over at Andrew. He was pouring himself a glass of champagne. "God, Andrew, what the hell are you doing?" Dawn yelled.

"What? I just thought I'd drink some bubbly to our fantastic discovery," Andrew said. He smiled at The Immortal who just shook his head in disappointment.

Willow felt defeated. "Guys, I can't get it to work. The magic here, It... it's too strong."

"What else do we have?" Xander asked.

"Well, if Spike and Buffy are under an illusion type spell, then they have be here somewhere, right?" Faith asked.

"Yea but we searched the entire place, and came up with nada," Xander said.

"There has to be some sort of secret room or something. Mansions always have them. It sounds cliche, but they're usually behind... a bookcase." Kennedy said, drawing everyone's attention to the walls of bookcases in the library.

"Of course," Giles said.

They raced over, trying to find the secret doorway. It was like a needle in a haystack. There were tons of books, and if that was the key, they had a lot to try.

"Just tug at each book, one at a time," Kennedy instructed.

They tried desperately to find the one book that's open up to a secret room. It was going to take a while, and time was not on their side.

Lorne tugged one book but it felt stuck. Then suddenly he heard a sound like something unlatching. "Uh, guys... I think I found the Chamber Of Secrets!"

Everyone turned to him. Willow was the first to run over to where Lorne stood. She examined the book shelf, but nothing happened.

"Are you sure?" she asked him.

Just then the shelf began to slowly open. They watched as it as it moved away from the wall. It opened to a long narrow corridor. It was dimly lit, but there was enough light for them to find their way through.

"Is anyone here claustrophobic?" Lorne joked.

Giles turned to the young slayers. "Girls, you stay here with Eve. Make sure she doesn't leave," he said, narrowing his gaze into Eve.

"Okay, this is it," Faith said.

They made their was into the corridor, single file. Faith took the lead, holding a sword next to her. There seemed to be no end. It just wrapped around and went on and on.

Willow looked around nervously. "Giles, can I borrow your knife for a sec?"

He handed her a knife, looking at her curiously.

Willow made a hug slice in the wallpaper. "Just in case we're going in circles," she said.

"Ah yes, good thinking," Giles told her.

They kept on with what seemed like hours but probably just minutes. Willow had made a gash on the wall of each new hallway they entered. They never came across the gashes again, which meant they were making progress. Then the corridor widened. There were doors located on both sides, all painted red.

"Well now this is promising," Xander said, sarcastically.

Willow approached a door and turned the knob, but then stopped. "I think the real puzzle here is that only one of these doors is actually the right one. If we try any others, we may regret it."

"Great, so how do we know?" Xander asked.

Willow began to run her hands across the doors, waiting for a vibration, or a sign. She walked on the other side, feeling around. She stopped at one red door. She peered at it as if she was using some sort of x-ray vision. "This is the one," she said.

"We don't know what to expect. We may find Buffy and Spike but we also may find Jean Trevaud. So, everyone be prepared for the latter," Giles informed them.

They got in defensive mode, well except for Lorne, he stood in the back nervously tapping his fingers to his pants.

Angel looked back at him and smiled. "Don't worry Lorne, I got your back."

Lorne cracked a slight grin. "Me, worried? Nah. What could be more fun than wondering around a great warlock's Funhouse of Mystery and Illusions?"

Willow turned the knob. She swung the door open. A blast of energy came at them full force. Willow kept her gaze and proceeded after the energy weakened.

They looked ahead in shock. The room was lined with mirrors. Each mirror held an image of someone. Giles walked ahead of Willow, scanning the images on the wall. It was so strange. One mirror contained an image of a woman, hysterically crying. Another held an image of a couple having sex. Giles looked away quickly, embarrassed.

"So, what the heck?" Xander asked.

Faith was staring at the sex mirror. "Uh, not sure."

"It seems these are mirror images of people in different emotional states. But why?" Angel asked.

They made their way through the large room. Willow walked to one end, looking for another door. The reflections bouncing off each other made it hard to tell where the room began or ended.

Lorne focused on one mirror. He squinted to get a better glimpse of what was in it. He saw Buffy. She was sitting on the edge of some crater or something. His eyes widened. "Hey kids. Come take a look at this," Lorne said.

"Buffy? My God, where is she?" Angel asked.

Faith looked worried. "The Hellmouth."

Buffy sat with her legs dangling. Her mind was gone. She was forgetting everything. Spike's new humanity, Angel and the big battle in L.A., Rome. She was back in Sunnydale. The rest was all a dream. She stared down at the openness of the hellmouth. There was something red filling the hollow abyss. It was rising.

Lava?

She stared at it, blankly. Hellmouths should be filled with fire and brimstone, right?

He felt a tug on his shirt. Spike opened his eyes, barely having the energy to do so. Drusilla clung to him, drinking from his neck. He was going to die. His heart's rhythm slowed down.

How long had she been drinking? Couldn't have been that long. She will turn me back into a vampire. I'll lose my soul.

He saw the trials. He did it for her. Buffy. He wanted to be, deserving...

Buffy, forgive me.

Drusilla drove her fangs harder into his artery. Spike gasped. His eyes grew heavy. His body was already weak.

Memories came flooding back to him.

He saw Buffy in her basement. He heard her words as she looked into his eyes.

"You faced the monster inside of you and you fought back. You risked everything to be a better man."

Then in the Hellmouth, wearing the amulet. Buffy holding his hand, looking at him with tears in her eyes.

"I love you"

He saw himself fighting Angel in the old opera house.

"I fought for my soul. Went through the demon trials. Almost did me in a dozen times over, but I kept fighting. 'Cause I knew it was the right thing to do. It's my destiny."

He saw himself killing the dragon with Angel.

Then in bed with Buffy as she caressed him, loving him.

He heard Lorne telling him, "I saw your baby, yours... and Buffy's"

He saw Cecily. "Do you really think that it matters in the end? We are judged by our actions, not who we are."

Then it hit him. His actions.

Spike lifted his head slowly with Drusilla still attached to his neck.

"No...," Spike whispered.

Spike grabbed Drusilla's arms and pulled her off of him. He felt weak, but his adrenaline was at full force.

"Our actions make us who we are!" he hollered.

She looked at him, confused with blood dripping down her chin. "What's the matter Spike? Don't you like my kisses?" she teased.

Spike stood, throwing her to the ground. She let out a menacing laugh and lunged at him. She grabbed him by the neck and tried to strangle him.

"It's over Dru," he told her as he grabbed her wrists pulling her off of him.

"I am a hero, you see. I fought on the side of good. I saved the world. I fought for my soul! I have been blessed with life. You are not going to take it away from me... again!"

She looked at him in horror. She lost her grasp on him. He was too strong. He then wrapped his hand around her neck. She struggled against his grip. He pulled her around him and backed her against the wall. He noticed the mantle next to him had a wooden cross hanging over it. He reached for it and pulled it off the wall.

"No! Spike," she begged.

He raised his arm glaring hard at her, teeth clenched. "These mind games will end now! I know you're not real!" he shouted.

She was helpless. "No, Spike, I'm..."

He drove the wooden cross through her heart. For a moment, she looked... angelic. Then she fell to dust. Spike watched the scene in agony. A wave of sorrow came over him. Even though he knew what he was seeing wasn't real, it felt real.

"Daddy?"

Spike turned to see his son at the doorway. He tried to shake off the illusion of dusting Drusilla. He lowered his head and noticed the dust all over his shoes.

"Sorry you had to see that lad," Spike told him.

The boys smiled at his father. "Daddy, mommy needs you. We have to go get her," he said.

"What's the matter with … mommy?" Spike asked him as he picked him up and walked him through the front door.

They were now in Sunnydale. Spike looked around remembering the familiar landmarks. They stood in front of the school.

"She's in there. In the bad place where the monsters come from," the boy told him.

"The Hellmouth," Spike whispered. He put the boy down and got on his knees, holding his hands.

"I'll get mommy, okay? Don't worry. Everything will be right as rain," Spike told him. And he meant it. He knew now what the future held. It was with Buffy and maybe, someday, this little tot here. He was meant to have been here, now. Even if the cards laid out were telling a different hand, he knew.

It's about Buffy. About his love for her. It's what drove him to be a better man. To fight the demon that Drusilla turned him into and Angelus raised. To be a better man. for her. She loves him. Buffy loves him. And now, his heart finally told him that he was...

... A better man.

His son smiled wide. He wrapped his arms around Spike's neck and squeezed. Spike hugged him back.

"I know it will be now, Daddy," the boy said. Then disappeared.

Spike's arms fell into each other. The boy was gone. Spike stood, looking ahead of him. He had to go rescue the love of his life. He walked hastily through the school. His body shivered at the bad memories this place carried. He found the basement and proceeded.

There it was.

The Seal Of Danthazar. It was open. Spike lowered himself into it. Flashes of the last time he did this ran through his head. He tried to shake it off. Their son said Buffy was here and he had to find her.

Their son.

He walked down the path. The air was hot as it whipped against his skin. Dirt flew around, masking the path ahead. He walked through it blindly then spotted sparks and cinders flying about. The scene made him nervous. It was too dangerous to be down here. Where was Buffy?

"Buffy?" he shouted.

The wind picked up throwing dirt into his face. He held his hand over his eyes.

"Buffy," he shouted again. The wind slowed down a bit, so he marched forward. He noticed larger cinders flying out of the vast pit that used to house thousands of Turok-Hans. He could swear he saw lava filling up in it.

"What in the bleedin' hell is this?" Spike said.

Dawn and Andrew reached the front door and stormed in. Eve and the slayers were startled by their entrance.

"Where is everyone?" Dawn asked.

Eve stood up. Bianca raised her ax at her. "It's okay. I'm not going to try to leave," Eve said to her. She turned to Dawn. "Everything got kind of crazy in here. All I know is that Spike and Buffy are trapped in some sort of delusional dimension and the gang all went to look for them."

Dawn's eyes widened and she turned to Andrew. "We're too late," Dawn said.

Willow neared Xander. He looked horrified. The mirror image had Buffy in it, in the Hellmouth. The Hellmouth looked alive again.

"Guys, we have to find..." Willow was interrupted by a mirror being thrown across the room. She looked to see where it came from.

A tall man stood staring at them. His eyes piercing. Jean Trevaud. "You imbeciles. Do you think you would actually find your friends in here?"

Willow stepped up. "Look, we're here to get them back. Where are they?" Willow demanded.

Jean smiled and lifted his hand. The room began to spin. Everyone was knocked about, falling into the walls. Mirrors came crashing down on them. He stood, untouched in the center of the room.

"Give up now, you fools," he said.

He lifted both arms and threw his hands forward. Suddenly they were swept up in a vortex then they landed back into the foyer of the house.

Eve and the young slayers jumped back as Willow and the rest crashed onto the floor.

"Ow!" Lorne yelped.

Jean Trevaud laughed as he walked through his bedroom. He sat in his lounge chair and peered into a crystal ball sitting on a table next to him. The images were foggy. He picked it up and shook it as if that would help clear it up, but it didn't. He cursed at it.

He suddenly felt a shudder. Something was not right. Something about this spell had gone wrong. He felt it in his bones.

Then he saw her in his mind.

Drusilla.

Spike neared the edge. Lava was rapidly rising. The heat was unbearable. Cinders flew all around him. He had to dodge a few.

Buffy sat at the edge, ignoring the heat surrounding her.

"Buffy!" he called out to her.

She turned her head in his direction. Spike ran over to her as she rose from where she was sitting.

"Buffy, thank God I found you. You have no idea what's been happening," he told her.

She looked at him blankly. He was surprised by her non reaction. She looked back down at the lava and took a step closer to the ledge.

Spike eyed her, unsure what wrong with her. She looked like hell. Her hair was a mess and her mascara ran down her face. He moved closer to her. She turned to him and looked at him in fear. She backed up closer to the ledge.

"Buffy, what are you doing?" Spike asked.

As he closed in on her she'd just back up closer to to edge. Then she felt her foot slip from under her. Her body fell back, only to be caught in Spike's arms. He held her as she stared up at him.

"Buffy, there's lava all around us, if your not careful..."

"I may lose you..." Buffy interrupted.

He smiled. "Yea, that." He pulled her up away from the pit.

She was weak and slumped in his arms. The lava rose higher.

"Let's get out of here," he said. Spike lifted her up and carried her out of the Hellmouth.

Buffy lifted her head to look behind him. He held her head down.

"No, Buffy. Don't look back, " Spike told her.