Work Text:
Heavy footsteps under him, the snarl of demons at their back, Ash’s panting breaths at his side. Spike spies the alley up ahead.
“Quick, in here!”
Whirling around, he waits for her to rush around the corner first. He follows in a flash – only for her to stop dead in front of him.
Dodging to one side before he can crash into her, Spike looks down, incredulous.
Then his eyes widen in horror. He’d recognise that look anywhere.
“Bugger,” he swears, spinning to the entrance of the alleyway. The demons aren’t far behind. “Crap. Okay–”
Grabbing her by the shoulders, he pushes her further behind him into the shadows. She stumbles and obeys. Her eyes are glazed; she’s not really with him. Where she’s gone to this time, he’ll have to wait to find out.
He takes up his fighting stance, blocking as much of the alley as he can. A second later, the first one comes around the corner in a flash of teeth and claws.
It launches at him and he meets it, catching its arm and swiftly ramming his knee into its abdomen. It crumples, but the second one is there in its place already. A swing, a dodge, a swipe of claws, a hiss as his hand finds its face. They spill apart. The first one is up again, the two of them gnashing their fangs hungrily. Shoreing his footing, Spike rolls his neck and braces.
They fly at each other. He can hold his own, but he’s no closer to actually offing them. If Ash wasn’t lost to the world somewhere behind him, she’d probably have thrown him some kind of weapon by now.
As it is, he’s left to scan the dingy alley floor in snatches between blows. There’s not much more than litter, a collection of dustbins with glass shards scattered on the ground around them.
All it takes is one move to wrong-foot him. A push he hadn’t seen coming sends him stumbling to catch his balance and there are claws on his throat. Instinct takes over, and after a short struggle he throws them off roughly, hurriedly righting himself.
The demon skids to the floor. Inside the alley. No, no no–
Before he can pull them back, the second one jumps at him from behind. The impact sends him stumbling, and he’s forced to turn around and clash in a new brawl. For the first time as the claws fly, panic seizes him. Ash is behind him, alone with a demon and totally blind to it…
~
The alley plunges her into darkness. She thrashes against the arms holding her, almost breaks free. But the strong muscles catch her again, firm around her chest, dragging her back, back…
Harsh hands push her further from the light. She stumbles back from her attacker, trying to see a way out…
Not real. Ash blinks and emerges. The alley is still dark, but whether it’s the crunching glass under her feet, or the glimmer of streetlight on the damp floor, or the breath loud in her ears, she blinks and breathes and knows this one is right.
She’s not out of the flashback, can only brace for it to come back. In the second’s reprieve, a shape skids towards her. There’s a glint of teeth, and barely a blink before it’s leaping towards her.
She stumbles back from her attacker, trying to see a way out–
The man’s face is in shadow, but she thinks he’s smiling. There’s a second, a suspense. This might be her turn, she thinks – and then he leaps for her.
Arms catch her and she kicks out, but the impact sends them both down. Her back slams against the brick wall, his weight on top of her.
The horror rushes through her, then. Her heart pounds, loud in her ears, rattling its cage like it knows this is its last.
It’s one of the most telling signs. She knows that feeling well, gasps through it. Blinks. One black alleyway turns to another black alleyway, but now the air is cold in her lungs and–
And there’s a shape, almost on top of her. She’s already moving, she finds, and its jaws slice through the air near her face. Arms catch her and she kicks out, but the impact sends them both down. Her back slams against the brick wall, its weight on top of her.
She raises an elbow and catches his face. In the moment their bodies come apart, in the scant light, she sees the knife.
Her elbow is in the demon’s face. In the moment they’re apart, it raises its claws. Her eyes widen.
It plummets. Her boot meets his stomach too late; the pain blazes in her gut, sending her crashing down as she tries to scramble up. Gasping, she turns her head, scanning the alley floor, but it’s bare.
The man is coming closer again.
Not real. Fight. Not real.
Ash lands on her side. Hardly remembers throwing herself away from the demon, wishes she could take a raincheck on the vision that won’t quit dragging her under, prays this snatch will be enough to keep her from the same fate again.
The claws come down, clashing with nothing but brick. Ash throws herself around, her boot meeting its stomach. It only sends it back a step. Broken glass underfoot sends her crashing down as she tries to scramble up again.
Gasping, she turns her head, scanning the alley floor–
He twists the knife in his hand. His silhouette, the gleam of her death – that’s what it is, she knows now.
He’s on her. A knee at her side, a hand, rough on her collar, and the hand, plunging down. Another scorching spike of pain. Again, he tugs it out, brings it back down. She screams, the breath scratching in her throat–
There’s glass. She blinks. The demon lunges, a knee at her side, a sharp spike of pain from her collar.
She grips the biggest one she can reach. It has to be enough.
She twists it in her hand. The demon’s silhouette blocks the light. Her makeshift blade gleams its promise.
She brings her hand up. Tugs it out, brings it back up again.
Her chest is screaming, hot blood streaming over it, through her bodice. His weight crushes her, absorbing her waning struggles greedily.
Her hand is screaming, hot blood streaming down it, soaking her sleeve. The demon's weight crushes her, limbs twitching with its waning struggle.
Her heels clatter on the floor, limbs twitching. The knife lands, again, again.
Its knees knock on the floor, slumping harder into her. She brings the glass up, again, again.
Her head falls back, onto the floor. Final.
It falls, knocking her head to the floor. Final.
~
Spike’s boots shuffle on the floor, staggering to keep the demon locked under his arm as it tries to throw him off. With a growl, it manages to slam his back into the wall, but he keeps his grip with a determined grimace. Plants his feet, braces, and tugs.
Its neck snaps, the crack jolting through his arm.
He doesn’t even stay to watch it hit the ground. He lets it drop, already spinning away from the mouth of the alley. Ash is down there, and he was meant to keep her safe. His scuffle turned way too long…
His eyes dart side-to-side, quickly landing on the bodies lying on the ground.
Something drops in his chest.
The demon is on top, dwarfing her. No, no, no…
Before he can even unstick his feet, it moves. No – she moves. Hands shoving at the beast’s shoulders, she pushes enough to roll it off her. The heavy mass is slow to shift, and then it topples, thudding stiffly onto the alley floor among the glass.
Spike’s wide eyes rove over Ash, who’s climbing to her feet. So she’s back with him, then. Absolutely coated in blood, too, but she tosses away a shard of glass with a clatter and he figures most of it isn’t her own.
“Ash, pet– are you…” His eyes travel, dazed, up to meet hers. “What was it this time?”
“Stabbing.”
She shrugs, and walks past him out of the alley.