The Meaning of Blood

Chapter Two: The Meaning of Blood

AN: This chapter is a cross between Buffy and X-Men, this is set before the movies and mutants are still a secret. Disclaimers apply, I don't own anything.

The crowd had finally cleared completely and left Dawn and Spike standing side by side next to Buffy’s grave. Dawn hated that word. Grave. Her sister wasn’t beneath that dirt, just the body. Dawn hated that word too. It’s what her sister had called their mother in that cold room. Dawn unwillingly asked herself the same question now. Where did she go?

She felt Spike slip his arm around her shoulders, to warm her up she supposed. She looked into his eyes for a moment and some silent communication seemed to pass between them in those few short seconds. He nodded.

“Right ‘bit, we’ll stay as long as you want.”

They had not been standing there but a minute when they were approached by two of the odd people she had barely noticed earlier. The man was an older gentleman, dressed in a suit and sitting in a chair that looked almost like it was made of glass. She wondered what had happened to him that he couldn’t walk, his legs looked fine to her. But in the end it didn’t really matter, she just wished they would go away.

The woman was tall, almost as tall as Spike. She had red hair and soft brown eyes. Dawn could practically feel the power rolling off of her. They were both dressed in black like all the other mourners. It didn’t matter, she just wished Spike would say something to make them leave her alone.

She turned to look him in the eye, and he nodded, stepping a little in front of her and putting a scowl on his face that would deter most demons that didn’t know him and all who did.

“Sod off. The ‘bit doesn’t want to be talking to no one. Go get your kicks elsewhere.”

The woman looked affronted. Dawn could tell that she supremely disapproved of Spike, and some part of her was happy about that. The man in the wheelchair, however, was not so easily deterred. He kept approaching her until Spike had to move in front of his chair to keep him from reaching Dawn.

“Oi, did you not hear me, I said sod off or I’ll bloody well rip your sodding throat out.” Dawn almost smiled; Spike was not someone who was on good terms with his temper. He riled easily and was very loud about it. It was one of her most favorite things about him, he was real. He sounded real, he moved real, he felt real, he even ate real. He loved her for real, and she really loved him.

The woman took a warning step towards them. “Professor?”

The man in the wheelchair, the Professor apparently, shook his head and waved his hand at her. “It’s alright Jean.” He looked towards her and Spike again, “I understand this is a very difficult time for you Miss Summers. But three months ago, right after your mothers death, you sister contacted me.”

He looked at her expectantly, but after a few beats, and sensing her inability to verbalize, he shifted his gaze to Spike, who nodded.

“My name is Charles Xavier, I run a school for gifted children in Westchester, New York. You sister, upon a change in her fifteenth year, was offered the opportunity to attend. Unfortunately, she declined my offer. However, we gave her the opportunity to contact us at any time, should she change her mind. When I received her call I was surprised as to the favor she asked. In the event of her death, which tragically has taken place, she asked me to offer you the same chance to attend. We understand you may need time to think about this decision, take all the time you need, but know that our doors are open to you.”

His speech finished he went to hand Dawn a card her had extracted from his pocket, but Spike swiftly moved in front of her. Professor Xavier nodded and handed the card instead to Spike, who sniffed it and stuffed it into a pocket to look over later.

Xavier turned his head as if hearing something, but she could discern nothing unusual in the night air. But suddenly he smiled and nodded a little sheepishly.

“My apologies, I was amiss in introducing my colleague, Dr. Jean Grey. She was once a student of my school, and is now a teacher for others.”

Spike made a sound that caught her attention and she quickly looked to him. He looked like he had just solved a puzzle. “Right mate, look now, you’ve got this all mangled up. I know what you are, you and that girl of yours. And I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that the ‘bit doesn’t belong at your school for ‘gifted’ kids. Her problem is entirely mystical.”

Xavier and Jean looked confused for a moment before nodding their acceptance.

“All the same, Dawn. If you ever need a place, or help, please feel free to call upon us.”

He waited until she had at least nodded her understanding of their conversation before motioning Jean that they should leave. Before turning the chair around, he locked eyes with Spike and nodded. Spike snorted and turned back to Dawn, turning his back on their visitors. She knew that he was still aware of them, could see it in the tense muscles at his shoulders.

When they were far enough away that he could talk to her without being overheard, he asked the question that she knew would be coming. “Are you sure ’bit? Bloody pilgrim and his bird look to be full of mostly good intentions, might do to check this school of theirs out. Be a right nice vaca from Sunnyhell on the outside.”

Dawn gave him a look that said quite frankly she’s rather have her fingernails pulled from her hand by Angelus. Honestly, some vampires with chips were so slow when it came to girls.

“Right then. Dumb idea anyway.” He looked down at her for a moment and she knew he was glad for that moment that she couldn’t talk, for he probably would have killed her if she revealed that his face looked so open and vulnerable. He was afraid he was going to loose her, and it showed on his face. “I’ll always be here ‘bit. Dawn. ‘Til the end of the world, I’ll be here for you.”

Dawn didn’t say anything, even if she could have, she wouldn’t. It was not a moment for words. She just laid her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him.

Honestly, she couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t loose her. With Buffy gone, she could be taken away to live with a foster family. She could get hit by a car tomorrow. But she would always want to be with him.

‘Til the end of the world.

AN: Like it, hate it? Reviews are my world.