-ahem-
BANGEL!!
sorry...felt that was nessacary. I HATE SPUFFY SHIP
...
It saddens me that there is a need for a topic like this, that only a select few of us see the truth.
Every princess needs her knight, the other half of the symbiotic circle to complete her. That her knight is in question when it should be an indubitable fact leads me to believe that this symbiotic circle that I speak of is not well understood.
A Princess must believe in her knight, and vice versa.
When Angel ran out on Buffy did he believe in her, did Riley when he did the same? When Buffy told Angel, on many occasions, that she did not trust him, do we just assume she believed though..?
When Spike's morality and true alignment was in doubt, when Spike didn't believe in himself, what was Buffy's response?
Buffy:"Be easier, wouldn't it, it if were an act, but it's not. You faced the monster inside of you and you fought back. You risked everything to be a better man, and you can be. You are. You may not see it, but I do. I do. I believe in you, Spike"
That no princess is complete without her knight, and no knight is complete without his princess.
That growth of each half of that symbiotic circle, means growth of the whole.
What is growth, really? Is it the ability to adapt and change to be more expedient in an everchanging enviroment?
From the time Angel began dating Buffy, to the time he left her and fled to LA had he changed much? We know he rejects humanity before he meets Buffy, he distances himself from people. Yet he has not changed all the way through the relationship and even after. Doyle explains it to him "But he's cut off. From every thing. From the people he's trying to help."
Angel: "I still save "˜em. Who cares if I don't stop to chat."
Not much growth there. Buffy grew..more closed. Not allowing anyone in. Seems like Angel threw her backwards, and he stood still.
Riley? Farmboy. Can't make a decision boy. First decision he makes is to run away in the face of problems. What growth. He went backwards, Buffy stood still.
Then we have Spike. Is there growth there? We know for sure, by the end of her relationship with Riley that Buffy has closed herself off. Her heart is hers, and much too precious to allow to be bruised. Does she grow with Spike in anyway? Buffy: "He is in my heart"
When Buffy has difficulty sharing her power with Faith when she is dating Angel, but learns to share it when she is with Spike, do we just assume there is not a connection there? That surely Spike helped her grow, gave her the strength,"Because of the strength that you gave me last night." that she needed for growth.
Spike's growth is clear, from monster to man, for her, because of her, with her.
He could not have grown without Buffy, and she without him.
That when a knight stumbles his princess will set him steady, and when a princess falters her knight will set her true.
I have lost the strength to even mention those charlatans any longer. Do we remember the harsh words of Buffy's to Spike? "Just said it. You keep holding back, you might as well walk out that door."
Words that he needed to hear, and heed them he did. Or when Spike vociferated to Buffy that she was insufferable? That he followed up with the words Buffy needed to hear. "Hey, look at me. I'm not asking you for anything. When I say I love you, it's not because I want you, or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you and I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You are a hell of a woman."
That any form of sacrifice for one half of that circle means full acceptance that they are a symbiotic circle.
What is sacrifice? When we give up something to fulfil the integrity of our belief in something else.
Like when Buffy continuously sacrifices the trust of her dear friends over her belief that Spike is a good man. Is that not sacrifice? When she submits the leadership of the group because she will not betray her ethical code that, among other things, Spike will help them fight the ultimate evil, that he will have his place in the battle. And she was vindicated for that.
And Spike, when he sacrifices his freedom for a soul. Do we understand he did that to unite that soul with Buffy's? When he sacrifices his life in the battle against evil, he confirms that as seperate entities Buffy and Spike are powerful, but united they can defeat evil itself.
It seems odd to me that the purity of the Buffy and Spike relationship would ever be considered as anything other than a veritable completion of two souls destined to be joined as one, in unison.
Soul mates transcending any understanding of the term united souls. Beyond such simple reasoning, just knowing that they are is all that should be.