Frankenspike's Creation

by
Skargasm



It took him years. There had been so much to learn – all the technology was a tad bewildering to start with, and turning a geek or two into vampires didn't help as much as he had initially thought as they turned into blood thirsty minions rather than willing tutors. Trying to read up on stuff on his own was a complete waste of time – he spent more time trying to decipher what was being talked about than anything else and it was all so incredibly frustrating.

However, the one thing he had in abundance was time.

Time and motivation.

The rest of the Scoobies decamped to the UK and he was invited along but couldn't muster up the interest. The pouf even invited him to come fight the good fight in L.A. And although it was nice to be asked, even the call of family wasn't enough to drag him to L.A when he wanted – no needed to learn this stuff, and no one else seemed to understand just how important it all was.

So for the first time in years, he cracked open the books and studied. And studied. And discovered that he was far from stupid. He lost interest in mayhem and bloodshed – the lack of chip didn't return him to his bloodthirsty ways and had nothing to do with any lingering feelings about the Slayer. Not after -

But that was all beside the point. He poured his time, energy and brain into learning everything he could, everything he needed to learn to make this very thing come true. That dark haired sod had made it seem so easy – he'd even cursed Red a time or two for turning him inside out because it would have been so much easier if he could have turned the job over to someone with experience – but in the end he found a great deal of satisfaction in doing it all for himself.

From the skeleton upwards, it was all his own work. He experimented with different demon skins, tested hair fibres, even considered trying cloning when he found a box of stuff that included hair brushes and combs that would have provided more than sufficient DNA (but that would have taken even longer) until he had the 'body' right. The face gave him fits – depending on how he was feeling, what face he was going for. In the end he settled for the 'middle' years. And then he had to move on to how to make the thing work. How to make it live and breathe and become.....

He realised that he hadn't spoken to any of his old 'friends' in quite some time. They used to call him to help out with the odd apocalypse – he helped Angel defeat the Black Thorn, and the Scoobies handle a minor demon incursion over in Scotland – but apart from that, he seemed to be out of the business. All of his previous fire for the dance was consumed by this new obsession. The bleached hair was a thing of the past – who cared about that superficial stuff when he finally succeeded in cracking some intense lines of code? Become Master of the Hellmouth? Not an area of interest when he could sit and program with some of the best hackers online about ways to do the things he wanted to do.

A visit from Red and he was shocked when he saw her – she had aged so very much. How long had it actually been?

“Hey Spike!” He hugged her carefully – she was so thin, almost gaunt and fragile; her hair was more grey than red, the power fairly crackling around her even in her advanced years although he could sense a weakening around the edges. “It is so good to see you. We missed you, you know?? We could have done with you a time or two.”

“Sorry, Red. I kinda got carried away, you know? Every time I thought I had it sorted, technology would move on a bit, something new and improved would hit the market and I had to incorporate it. But I'm close – in fact, I think I may well be finally ready.”

“Oh Spike! I didn't realise you were still trying to – look, we just thought you didn't want to be part of the fight anymore. I mean, after everything that happened – everything you lost, we understood that. But to find out that all of this time you have been trying to build this... this thing - I don't know, I'm just really shocked you know?!”

“What's so shocking? O'course, you lot never believed how I felt did you? Thought it was a passing fancy – a way to get one over on the Slayer. Well you were all wrong. Totally wrong. What we had was real – more real than you will ever know. An' just because you didn't understand it, you kept me away – stopped me from - “

“He never would have wanted that! Not ever! I don't care what you thought the two of you had, but being turned was his absolute worst nightmare! We did the right thing – I know we did the right thing. You had no right to - “

“No right? Boy was mine weren't he? Him and me – we talked it through. Had it all planned. He even made a living will. But we knew you lot wouldn't respect it – wouldn't understand. Did you know he got it all sorted – made sure he could keep his soul and everything? He wasn't gonna come back some raging minion with nothing but blood-lust – wouldn't have wanted him like that anyhow. He was coming back as himself. And we were going to have forever. But you lot got in the way – kept him away from me, and by the time I found out it was too late. You wouldn't know the right thing if it jumped up and sank it's fangs into your neck.”

She gave a sigh, sitting down heavily in the armchair and burying her face in her hands. They had had this conversation so many time before the Scoobies had left, and they never reached anything resembling a settlement. How could they? Not when they had cost him an eternity with the one person he loved who loved him back with the same intensity? Not when they let their narrow-minded, all demons-bad mentality stop him from turning his boy when he was injured so badly; not when he didn't even get the chance to say goodbye...

“You can't do this. It's obscene!! You claim to have loved him yet want to replace him with this..... this....thing!!”

“You know NOTHING! Was nice to see you, Red, but I think it's time you left.” He knew his pain and vulnerability was plain to see, but he didn't care. She didn't understand and she never would. And he wasn't going to try to explain it to her. They had taken away his life with his boy – they knew nothing. He suffered through the hug she inflicted, for a moment breathing in her scent – mothballs, incense, familiar but no longer infused with the scent of his boy. She was just another human to him now – there was nothing for him in knowing her any longer. “Take care love. Bye.” He didn't even watch as she left, instead heading down into the basement where his masterpiece awaited him.

Everything was in it's place. He'd even foregone his normal hatred of mojo to learn the spell, working to ensure he got the incantation absolutely right. Expensive, that type of magic, but it was well worth it. To him at least. He looked it over one last time, seeing the fine grain of it's skin; the vitality of the dark brown hair; the baggy clothing hiding what he knew was an amazing body. He knew this creation down to the last millimetre, exactly as he had known his boy before he was taken away from him all too soon. It had taken him six months just to get the body temperature right – first too cold and metallic smelling, then too hot and demon smelling. But now it was spot on – it was all absolutely perfect. It just needed that spark of life.

Tracing the beloved face, unusual in it's stillness, he took a deep, unneeded breath. It was now or never. Cupping his hand around the smooth skin at the nape, he reached just beneath the hairline for the 'on' switch. A nearly silent whirring sound and he could hear the processors kicking in, the chest taking it's first breath of 'air'. The strong arms came up around him, pulling him in tight and he savoured that long-lost feeling, before leaning back and looking up into the hazel eyes.

“Missed you Pet – so much every single day.” A small flash of light in the depths of the eyes heralded the final part of the spell kicking in; a tightening of the embrace as the once-beloved lips touched his once more just before the stake he had placed in the strong, hard hand was shoved into his heart through his back and he was free to join his Xander for eternity at last....



The End