So… let's play a game. It's called 'let's pretend this is also a new chapter for Bitter Hug and we're not now planning ways to kill the feckless author'… Sound good? Enjoy! Heh

Chapter Two

Rhys absently stroked the trunk of Mother Willow as he leant against her and decided on what he was going to do that day. His options, in his mind at least, were to stalk Xander or stalk Buffy. He just hadn't decided which one.

"Perhaps you should consider finding the Slayer. Find out more about her."

"Why her and not Xander?" Rhys asked, mentally reassuring himself that his voice just came out a little strange because he had only just woken up and not because he was whining.

"Because His Highness would not appreciate his baby son and heir trying to flirt with someone he hasn't met. His underage son," Mother Willow pointed out, one long branch reaching down to stroke Rhys' cheek.

"What?! I'm nineteen! That is not underage!"

"It is for a sprite. It is fairly unheard of for one so young as you to be left alone without their guardian."

"You think da has left me alone? Don't be silly! The grass reports back to him. And I know he's told you and all the other trees and shrubs to keep an eye on me. Plus all flowers will be reporting my eating habits. Really, it's like he's here as well," Rhys grumbled, though still absently rubbing his cheek against the branch.

"Yes, well, can you blame him? You're a baby. He only allowed you to come here because he knew the wizards wouldn't be able to follow you after they chased you out of Britain."

"Fine, fine. He's a brilliant father. Something, I'd like to point out, I've never actually refuted. Still, it's not like I want to do anything with Xander! I just… want to watch!" Rhys said - still not whining, though maybe he should see someone about how strange his voice was sounding.

"Maybe you don't want to do anything with him, but he's human and male. And a teenager. You would be amazed how many human, male teenagers I've witnessed come through here during the night with their significant others."

"You think I'm significant to him?" Rhys asked cheerfully, looking at the tree excitedly and getting the strange sensation that she would be rolling her eyes if she had any.

"That was not the point I was trying to get across, Little Prince. Perhaps you should consider searching out the slayer instead if only because you need to make sure she doesn't see you as something to slay."

"Why would she think that? I'm not slayable! I'm adorable! Cute! And not bumpy faced with a strange taste for blood. Though I suppose if you're a vampire, it's not all that strange to like blood. Um… What were we talking about again?"

"Sometimes your attention span is severely lacking. I was telling you that you needed to keep an eye on the Slayer."

"Oh right. Her. Can I maybe just stop by Xander's first? You know, just… check in? Then I promise I'll go to wherever it is that the Slayer is. Also, before I forget, why was some of the local moss all in a tizzy about tunnelling? Something about it weakening their land?"

"I haven't heard anything. Why would humans be tunnelling?"

"How would I know? I mean, sure everyone thought I was a human for the first seventeen years of my life, but I didn't! Well, actually, maybe my mother didn't either. But given she died when I was only one, I don't think that counts much. My point is, I never believed I was human and so I really don't know what goes through their minds. Plus all the humans I've come across are just strange. So! Now that I've told you what the moss was whining about, can I go find Xander?"

"Do you not think you should find out more about the tunnelling?" Mother Willow asked him wrapping a branch around his waist before he could wander off chasing his imagination or something equally as likely.

"What? Why? What am I going to do about it?" Rhys asked, wincing when the branch tightened a little to become less embracing and more restricting. "Fine, maybe Xander will know! Please?"

"Fine. But you know the grass will tell your father about him eventually. Especially the more interest you show the mortal."

"Yep! Okay! Cheers! I'll be back later!" Rhys said with an absent nod as he tried to untangle himself from the tree's branch. "Oh! Wait. Um… do you know where he is?"

A sigh brushed through the tree's branches as she untangled from around Rhys and nudged him away from his trunk.

"He's at the Watcher's house. The flowers will get you there. Perhaps, whilst you are there, you should introduce yourself to him and let him know you aren't here to cause trouble for his slayer."

"Okay! I'll do that! And talk to Xander," Rhys added with a bright smile, stepping away from the tree and looking around him as he noticed it seemed to be early afternoon. Really, he should probably buy a watch at some point. It just seemed so human though.

"Make sure you point out the to Watcher that harming you will upset your father and he is someone they don't want to upset."

"Yep! Definitely not someone you should piss off. I'll be back later and I'll let you know what the seeing man said!"

"Watcher!"

"Yeah, him!" Rhys shouted over his shoulder, smiling brightly at the strange look a passing couple shot him as he made his way out of the park.

Rhys paused in his steps slightly as he noticed a dark-haired woman walk down the steps that would apparently lead him to where the Watcher lived - according to the flowers along the way - before he shook his head and carried on his way to the Watcher's. The trees and flowers along the way had let him know that Xander was still there.

"-Kicking myself." Rhys frowned a little as he wondered just what they were talking about, before shrugging and walking to the partially opened door and stepped inside.

"Um… hello?" Rhys called out, getting the attention of the three in there, and narrowing his eyes a little at the woman who seemed to be standing up to both the men in the room.

"Oh! Er… hello. May I er… who are you?"

"Rhys!"

"What he said," Rhys told the older man with a wide grin at Xander and another side-ways glance at the woman. "Why is there a vengeance demon in here? You do know it's more fun to get your own revenge, right? Plus, Anyanka tends to prey on men, not help them."

"You know who I am?" The woman, Anyanka, asked, looking at him in surprise.

"I do. Well. Technically, I was told who you were. Are. Actually, they're kinda confused about that but I figure that's none of my business. Um… Mr Watcher! I came here to speak to you. Actually, I came here to speak to Xander, but I was also told I should speak to you as well," Rhys told them, fidgeting a little as he looked around the room curiously and mentally restrained himself from wandering over the bookshelf full of old - and interesting - looking books.

"Oh well. Er… I'm Rupert Giles, though everyone calls me Giles and apparently you know of the Slayer. Or Watchers at least. Alas I'm not actually a Watcher anymore. And you know Xander?"

"Yeah, G-Man, Rhys was there to help the Buffster a while ago when she was preyed on by those creepy vampires at the start of term. How have you been Rhys?" Xander asked with a bright smile, bouncing on the spot slightly before side-stepping and moving closer to where Rhys was standing.

"Oh? How do you know Buffy? Actually, why did you need to speak to me? And Anya, why are you here?"

"I need to talk to Xander. Alone. Xander, come," Anya said, reaching forward to grab Xander's arm and dragging him away from Giles and Rhys, who both stared at the woman in shock.

Xander detangled himself from Anya's grasp and moved so that Rhys was more between the two of them, not that he thought he'd do much good given everyone in the room was taller than him.

"Erm. This is awkward! So…" Rhys trailed off, grinning when the other three all just looked at him strangely.

"How did you know who I was?" Anya demanded, turning her full attention to Rhys, scowling when she saw how close he was standing next to Xander.

"Oh! Right. Well, the trees told me. Actually, it was the Michelia which is more a shrub than a tree. He was a little confused about what you are. He knew you were a demon but now he says you seem to be more human. And also, you're talking about yourself in the past tense. Which is weird," Rhys pointed out with a grin, which changed into a snicker when Xander chuckled behind him.

"Been speaking to the trees again, huh?'

"Well, they are my guardians whilst I'm here without my da. Oh! Yes! That reminds me why I'm also here."

"Oh?" Giles asked, taking his glasses off and cleaning them before placing them back on his face and looking at Rhys with interest. "And you can talk to trees?"

"Well yeah. Like I said, they're my guardians. Though the grass around here just shamelessly tells on me to him! Like I have no privacy or freedom! Everything I do! It's just unfair," Rhys whined - and yes, he would fully admit that was what he was doing right at that moment - ignoring the odd looks he was getting from Xander and Giles, and the considering look he was getting from Anya.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Giles asked him, sounding like he wasn't asking the same question he'd already asked - and had answered.

"That's part of why I'm here. I'm Prince Rhys Goodfellow."

"You! You ruined one of my revenge wishes with your stupid pranks!" Anya screamed in a rage, launching herself forward and tackling Rhys to the ground, only just missing taking Xander down with them and then straddling his waist and throttling him. Which just made the cackles of laughter coming from Rhys sound a little more broken.

Giles and Xander stared at the two in shock and slight horror for a couple of seconds before what they were seeing registered in their minds and they rushed to separate the two on the floor. Giles dragged Anya away from Rhys. Who was lying on the floor, shaking with gasping laughter as Xander tried to make sure he was alright.

"You little pest! No wonder Britain ran you out of the country! Oh yeah! I heard about that! All the demon circles were talking about it! The little Goodfellow run out of his native country!" Giles and Xander both stared down at the snickering Rhys in shock once more, whilst Rhys just shrugged and managed to stop giggling long enough to smirk at Anya, who made a wordless noise of anger at the look.

"In my defence," Rhys paused for a second and then giggled again, "okay, I have no defence."

"I'm sorry, but how do you know him?" Giles asked Anya, whilst Xander helped Rhys stand up, though giving him slightly wary looks.

"The demon circles talked about me?" Rhys asked, looking a bit too happy about that fact.

"They've always kept an eye on your family. I think everyone shuddered a little when you were announced."

"Brilliant!"

"Yes, as enlightening as this conversation is, do you think you could possibly tell us what in God's name you're both talking about? Before I decide you're both too dangerous to let live and I kill you both!" Giles snapped, clearly having enough of being left out of the loop, and making Rhys look at him with wide eyes before he took a small step so he was standing behind Xander.

"He's a little demon! Kill him, Giles!"

"Hey! You were the one that turned somewhat unfaithful men inside out! You actually are a demon!" Rhys cried out from behind Xander, so all they really heard was his voice and didn't see the grin on his face. Which was possibly a good thing.

"Was! I was a demon! This lot broke my necklace!"

"Ouch, that sucks. Still! It's a bit harsh calling me a demon and trying to get them to kill me!" Rhys pointed out, still from the relative safety behind Xander, who looked like he was quite desperate to turn around and face Rhys.

"So you're not a demon?" Xander asked in a slightly higher-pitched voice than what Rhys assumed was normal, and reaching behind him to try and detangle Rhys' hands from his top.

"Nope!"

"Yes!" Anya shouted at the same time as Rhys answered, making Rhys pop his head around the side of Xander and scowl at her.

"You do know who will hunt you down if you get me killed, right? The whole court!"

"What?! Why?! I'd be doing them a favour!"

"Clearly the demon circles haven't heard how loved I am! Titania especially likes me! After all, I was abused by lowly mortals and then almost brainwashed by those other bloody mortals! Can you believe they cast a damned spell over me so I looked human! And then hid me from my father! So yeah, Titania loves me. Admittedly, the same can't quite be said for Oberon."

"Did you say Oberon and Titania?" Giles asked, looking at where Rhys was still hiding behind Xander.

"Yeah. They're sort of my aunt and uncle. Well, sort of. I mean, we're not the same species or anything, but we're part of the same court and so we're basically family."

"What are you?" Xander asked, finally managing to detangle Rhys from his shirt and turning to face him, frowning when Rhys just stared up at him and smiled brightly.

"Oh! Right! That. I'm not a demon at least."

"He damn well is! You should have seen what he did, Giles! You definitely should get Buffy to slay him!"

"Oi! Slay me and you'll have to answer to my father! The trees won't be all too impressed either."

"So you keep saying. Might I ask who your father is so that your warnings could perhaps mean something?"

"I suppose that would be helpful, huh? Maybe my full name could clue you in. I'm Prince Rhys-Robin Goodfellow. Son of King Robin Goodfellow. Though you might know him as Puck. King of the Unseelie Court. General pain the ass of the Seelie Court. I'm a sprite. A mischief fairy some call us. I mean, they'd be wrong, I'm not a fairy, but I do like mischief."

"A fairy?"

"I'm not a bloody fairy! I've got more in common with piskies than I do with fairies! I'm a sprite."

"And you have close ties to the king and queen of the sidhe?" Giles asked him, looking at him with great interest.

"No. And I'm going to blame the bloody Celts for that misinterpretation. Or possibly Shakespeare. Titania and Oberon are not the rulers of the Sidhe. That would be my father. For some reason the Celts never quite grasped that. And then that bloody insane mortal, Shakespeare, comes along and makes Titania and Oberon the bloody king and queen of all the fairy folk and all associated with them! No! Not right! They're not even bloody fairies!"

"They're not?" Giles asked, looking totally aghast that something he'd possibly researched might have been wrong. Either that, or horrified that a playwright from Elizabethan England didn't get all his facts right before writing a play.

"Nope! Ironically, they're what most mortals would call dark elves, even though they're rulers of the Seelie Court and according to most mortal books they're thought to be more in the Unseelie court. Which my father would be the ruler of. Anyway! Enough of all this. My whole entire point of being here, other than talking to Xander, would be to warn you not to harm me because my father wouldn't be impressed and the local vegetation and plant life would probably take it out on you. Plus, I might be able to help on occasion. What with all the oogie-boogies you've got lurking around this place. Hopefully the grass doesn't tell my father just what you've got lurking around here. Though luckily most demons are now kept away from my resting place!" Rhys told them cheerfully, smiling at the slightly stunned expressions on their faces.

"You would help us?"

"Hello! He ruined one of my vengeance wishes! You should definitely kill him!" Anyanka shouted, glaring at Rhys when he snickered at the memory.

"Oooh! I remember something else! Dunno if it makes much difference to you, but someone's been tunnelling under this fine town, though admittedly nearer the end of town that the university is. Any thoughts? It's really distressing the moss," Rhys added with a small shrug when all he got was strange looks.

"Er… I'm afraid I don't know anything about that."

"Okay! Well, I told the moss I'd bring it to your attention, and I did that so I've pretty much covered all the bases and such. Actually, possibly warn your little witchy friend not to do any spells on me. They generally won't end well for her."

"Why aren't you killing him?"

"Why aren't you killing her?"

"We don't generally tend to kill everyone we come across. Now, Anya, what was it you were here for exactly?"

"I want to talk to Xander. Alone. About our relationship," Anya told them, making all three men gape at her, before Rhys slumped a little and took a side-step away from Xander.

"Oh! So you two are um… significant?" Rhys asked, looking at them with wide eyes and ignoring the spluttered cough from Giles next to him.

"What?! No! We're not significant! Or even er… less significant! Wait, what?" Xander asked, looking from Anya to Rhys and then to Giles in the hope that one of them would explain to him what was going on.

"You know… significant. Mother Willow told me about people with significant others. Mates. Courtships and such. That's what you two have, right?"

"No!"

"Yes!" Anya and Xander said before turning to glare at one another whilst Rhys just turned to look at Giles in the hopes he'd explain though judging by the resigned look on his face, Rhys gathered the older man would rather they just leave.

"Does anyone have any tea?" Rhys suddenly asked, feeling a little sorry for the Watcher and deciding that he'd just make happy with the fellow Englishman and have some tea.

"Tea? Oh… er… yes, I have tea. Several types in fact. What would you like?"

"Do you have Ceylon?"

"Yes."

"That'll do then! Thanks! A splash of milk and four sugars. Cheers! And um… while we're having tea, maybe you two should decide if you are significant to one another or not. I hear it helps if both parties are cooperative. Actually, I hear it's only legal if both parties are cooperative. Well, with humans. It's generally not advised to try anything with an unwilling sidhe or fae so no one bothered to make a law banning such a stupid thing. Seriously. Don't try to force someone who can turn you into a pig and then slaughter you and create a lovely spit-roast with your still piggy remains into doing something they don't want to," Rhys added with a small shrug and then smiling at the stunned Xander and scowling Anya.

"We're not dating. Anya, why the hell did you think we were dating?"

"You took me to the prom!"

"And then you ran off at the first sign of danger!"

"Well, now I'm back and I can't stop thinking about you. Sometimes in my dreams, you're all naked."

"I'll get on to making that tea then, shall I?" Giles interrupted hastily, before making a break for the little kitchenette his apartment had, though given there was a large window hole in the wall, Rhys figured he wasn't going to get away from overhearing any more uncomfortable details.

"Why would a vengeance demon who hated men and did very nasty things to them want to date one? Also, why did you only avenge scorned women? Though that last question doesn't have to be answered, I realise it's slightly off topic."

"Yes. Well. People change. And lose their powers. So, I can assume a standing Friday night date and a mutual recognition as Prom night as our dating anniversary."

"Anya. Slow down there. In fact, come to a screeching halt. We're not in a relationship."

"You're not? Well. That's good then! I was worried about your sanity, dating a man-hating vengeance demon and all that!" Rhys said cheerfully, practically skipping away from Xander's side and over to the bookshelves. "You have some very interesting books here. Though the Compendium of Celtic Beasts is utter wank. It'll probably be more useful as fire wood."

"Shut up, you evil little pest! You know nothing about mine and Xander's relationship. Now, Xander, I think we should go on a date this Friday."

"Anya! No! We're not dating. For one, these things have to develop on their own. You can't force them," Xander told her taking another step backwards slightly towards Rhys.

"Okay. How?" Anya asked, making Rhys stop his search of Gile's books and from the sounds of things making Giles stop his rather noisy tea-making session as they all turned to hear Xander's answer on that.

"I don't know! It just… happens."

"Huh. Informative. So, now that you've finished telling Xander what you wanted to tell him, can I talk to him now? Not that I actually have anything to tell him, now that I think of it," Rhys added, absently taking an interesting looking book off the shelf and flipping through it.

"Perhaps you could all tell me exactly why you're still invading on my space and talking about your private lives within my hearing. Here's your tea," Giles added as he handed a mug to Rhys, which he took with a smile and then narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the drink.

"This isn't the American tea, is it? Because I'm not entirely sure that could be called tea in the truest sense. Not that I'm all for truth and honesty, but still… tea. That's sacred. You shouldn't lie about tea. So, it's not, right?"

"No, I refuse to drink that disgusting stuff. I have this imported. Perhaps you could tell me some more about… sprites, was it?"

"Yeah, I'm a sprite. And sure! I'll tell you some more about us. Admittedly not anything you could actually use against me, but I can tell you other stuff you might want to know. Um… what would you want to know?" Rhys asked, taking a sip of the tea and give a small sigh of happiness at the sugary tea goodness. He really did need to make a trip to some sugar fields or wherever they grew sugar. The plants there must have some great food to share with him.

"Oh? Well, you look like a human, so I suppose there isn't much way of telling if there are any there sprites around. But, perhaps you could give us some clues on how else to tell?" Giles asked him, both of them ignoring the bickering of Xander and Anya by the still open front door and moving to sit down on the couch.

"Oh! Right! I'm still covered by a tythe!" Rhys exclaimed, looking at Giles sheepishly before he winked and clicked his fingers and his hair grew a few inches, becoming shoulder length with odd leaves, flowers and feathers tied in it in different places, his skin turned pale green and his eyes became narrower and a brighter green. And his teeth became sharper. All in all, he looked a lot less human than he had seconds before. "This is what sprites tend to look like. Well, the skin colour at least. Well, wood sprites that is. Water sprites have a more blue tint to their skin and tend to have lighter brown or blonde hair. Wood sprites have green skin and darker coloured hair, dark brown, black and occasionally dark red. However, we do have magic of our own and can cast tythes that will hide our true appearance to anyone."

"A… tythe? Like a tax?"

"Oh! No. It's what we call spells. However, we would occasionally cast them for mortals in payment. Which is sort of where the tax payment thing came from. I think. I possibly drifted off a little when my father was explaining it all."

"Right. Of course. Well, not the tythe thing admittedly. Will there be many sprites wandering around?"

"Not here. Most of them tend to stick to the old country. Or in the Between World. And even if they did come here, they'd probably leave you alone. We like to make mischief but we don't want to put ourselves in danger by targeting anyone possibly stronger than us. The only reason I'm here is because I was advised to make pax with you so to speak. Make sure your Slayer doesn't see me as a threat whilst I'm staying here," Rhys told him with a grin, before they were both distracted by the sound of the front door being slammed shut with Xander leaning against it, looking at them with a lopsided, sheepish grin.

"Anya says goodbye. Huh. You do know you're green, right?" Xander said, looking at Rhys with wide eyes as he walked over to them and sat down in the only free chair.

"Yep. I was born with green skin. It's hard to miss when you're looking in the mirror," Rhys told him with a grin, twisting a lock of hair around his finger and tugging it slightly.

"Cool. So you're a sprite, huh? How come you're here on the Hellmouth?"

"I was bored. Well, and like Anyanka said, I was run out of England. My da agreed that here would be a good place to hide as the Hellmouth generally messes with most spells and so no one would be able to find me here that way! We figured give it a year to cool down and then maybe see if they've forgotten their anger at me," Rhys told them with a shrug, mentally adding that perhaps after a year, the Death Eaters will have finally worked out how to get rid of the bunny ears.

"So you're only going to be here for a year?"

"Probably. Who knows? My da will let me know nearer the time as to whether it'll be safe for me to leave the Hellmouth's cover. And even if it is, I might not want to leave."

"Well, ah, whilst you're here, do you think you could possibly work with us. I mean, should you hear anything you think the slayer should know about, you'll let us know, for example," Giles suggested, making Rhys look a him with narrowed eyes before he shrugged.

"It would depend on what I heard. Some of the plant life around here like certain demons, so they won't want me to pass on any information that might get them hurt. But the moss really is quite distressed about the tunnelling, so you should probably consider looking into that," Rhys added, tapping his chin and wondering if he should mention that William the Bloody was back in town. Though given how much the trees and plants liked the vampire - though many flowers liked Drusilla more and were disappointed she hadn't come back with him - he figured he should probably keep quiet about it. They'd probably find out soon enough anyway.

"Ah yes. The er… moss. Of course. Well, I suppose I can look into it," Giles told him, and though Rhys didn't actually believe him, he still smiled brightly at the Watcher and nodded his head.

"Thanks! I should probably get going. Mother Willow worries about me if I'm out too long when it's getting dark. Not that most vampires would attack me anyway. Still she worries. Um… You know, I wasn't actually joking the last time when I told you to ask the trees should you need me. If I hear anything I think you should know about, then I'll let you know," Rhys promised them, though silently amending it to anything he hears that the local plant life are happy for him to share. It wouldn't be fair to give them too much of an advantage over the local demons, would it.

"Of course. Thank you for stopping by. I shall make sure Buffy knows that you are er… safe and not to try and slay you should she come across you," Giles reassured him with a small smile, getting a bright one back from Rhys as he stood up and practically skipped to the front door. Before he left, he turned back around and looked at Xander.

"I'm glad you saw sense and decided not to make Anyanka significant to you! My da says that common sense is one of the only good things mortals have going for them and not dating a man hating vengeance demon just screams of common sense. Actually, my da technically said that common sense would be one of the only things going for mortals if they actually chose use it, but same thing right?" And with that said, Rhys shrugged and left the apartment leaving both men gaping at him behind.

"Prince Rhys! Prince Rhys!" The shouts of excited blades of grass washed over towards him with the breeze as Rhys walked through the main park he had basically declared as his home - which most if not all demons now acknowledged judging by the suspicious lack of suspicious deaths there since Rhys started sleeping there - towards the southern most gate that would take him nearest to the university. Somewhere Rhys found great fun given the amounts of oblivious non-Sunnydale-native students to mess with. Well, he was going to go there but given the sheer excitement and urgency from the blades of grass, he apparently had something better to do.

"What's up?" He asked, spinning on his heels slightly to sit down on the grass and then pushed his toes into the earth, letting the grass tickle him slightly.

"Prince Rhys, you need to go to the college! Our Master Vampire has the ring! He's going to use it against the Slayer! You need to stop him! It's not going to end well! You've dreamt of the ending! You need to tell our vampire that he needs to get out of Sunnydale!" Rhys frowned at that but then swiftly cheered up when he realised that he would be going to the university after all. With that cheerful though, Rhys ran his fingers through the grass and then jumped up and disappeared in his customary cloud of glitter.

He reappeared next to one of the uni buildings and glanced around him, wondering where to start looking for Spike before deciding the sensible thing to do would be to follow the sounds of the vicious fight going on. As he decided that, he noticed Xander running towards the sound of fighting as well and just shrugged to himself before running behind him.

He arrived just in time to see Xander go flying and Buffy to get flung to the floor, clearly losing. Though given the annoyingly prophetic dreams he had been having, Rhys very much doubted it would continue going in Spike's favour for much longer.

"I wonder what went wrong. Were you too strong? Did you bruise the boy? Come to think of it seems like someone told me that. Who was it? Oh, yeah. Angel." Even Rhys winced at that and didn't at all feel sorry for Spike when Buffy quite rightly upped the ante and started to really beat Spike up.

Rhys decided to sit back for a while and let Buffy teach Spike that it wasn't the wisest of ideas to mock a woman about a bad past relationship. Especially if that woman could quite soundly kick your ass.

Of course, this decision backfired when he saw Buffy get the upper-hand and suddenly had Spike's wrist in a tight grip.

"Oh, this isn't good," Rhys muttered to himself as he glanced to the side to see Xander slowly moving to stand and step closer to him.

"Rhys?"

"Xander! Good to see you um… standing. And alive. And not broken at all. It's great talking to you again but er… I have to go do something," Rhys told him, before quickly running past a confused Xander to where Spike was now flinching away from the sun and starting to smoke quite alarmingly.

Rhys clicked his fingers and made a nearby manhole open before running up to Spike and grabbing his arm, then dragging him over to the manhole and pushing him down it. He quickly followed behind the probably confused vampire to the stunned shouts of his name. With another click of his fingers the manhole cover closed over behind him, leaving him in the dark sewer tunnel with a now growling vampire.

"Hey! Your eyes glow in the dark!" And with that ground-breaking announcement the growling from Spike swiftly stopped and if ever a silence was confused, this was the time.

"Why'd you save me, lil bit? And then follow me down here?" Rhys clicked his fingers and a small green light appeared by his head, just highlighting his unnaturally green skin. "And you ain't human."

"Nope! And I saved you because the trees like you. Well, technically, the grass likes you more. The moss really doesn't like you though. Something about caves and tunnelling. Quite frankly I blanked off on what they said after the first ten minutes of whining. Still! I saved you because the Master of the Hellmouth didn't deserve to be burned up by the sun. Even though the sun is kinda awesome. I like the sun."

"Right, niblet. Two things really, one, what are you and two, what are you blathering on about?" Spike asked with a sigh, moving to lean more comfortably against the wall and looking at Rhys closely before sniffing the air. "You smell like flowers, dirt and innocence, which is vaguely familiar to me, but I can't quite place it."

"I'm a sprite! Prince Rhys Goodfellow at your service!" Rhys said with a bright smile and a literal sparkle as he made a cloud of glitter puff around him. Spike watched him curiously, and refused to allow the grin on his face to appear.

"Any relation to Robin Goodfellow by any chance?"

"You know my da?!" Rhys asked excitedly, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet as he looked up at the bleach blond vampire in front of him that strangely always made Rhys think about white weddings and shotguns. Every time. It was weird.

Spike snorted in amusement and shook his head, "no, pet, I don't know your da. I have read Shakespeare though. Didn't actually know he was real though."

"Yep! My da is totally real! And the king! Like you're the Master!"

"About that, pet, what are you bloody talking about?"

Rhys frowned at Spike's confusion and then shrugged before explaining himself, "you're the Master of the Hellmouth, of course. What do you think I meant?"

"I ain't the bloody Master of the Hellmouth, Pet."

"You really are. You were the last Master Vampire to claim that right and no one has since taken that away from you, so therefore you're still the Master here. The local plant life certainly view you as that."

"Right, of course, I'm assuming you're an earth sprite then, niblet? So I'm the Master and you didn't think I should get burnt up by the sun. That about right?"

"That about sums it all up, yep! Well, that and the grass really was insistent that I help you. Of course, I have no idea how I'm going to explain all this to Xander. I get the feeling he isn't your number one fan."

"Who's Xander? Your lover, pet?"

"Lover?! No! Ew! I'm only eighty!" Rhys said with a grimace which was quickly followed by a giggle. Though his amusement soon faded when he saw that Spike was frowning at him. "What?"

"You're only eighty? Why are you away from your da, Niblet? You're only a baby and a royal one at that. Why are you here alone?"

"Oh, that. Well, I kinda maybe pushed the British wizards a bit too far and they maybe kinda chased me out of the country. My da agreed that the Hellmouth would be the perfect place to hide from them as it would mess with any spells they might cast to chase after me. Besides, have you seen all the plant life around here? Do you honestly think I'm alone? Not a chance. So I'm fine!"

"Plants ain't gonna help you down here though, are they?" Spike pointed out, making Rhys finally see a flaw in the whole plan he had going. Hopefully pointing it out meant that Spike wasn't actually intending to use it against him.

"You… might have a point there. I should be going. Yeah."

"Niblet, I ain't gonna hurt the one that saved me now, am I?" Spike said, looking at him with narrowed eyes before patting at his coat and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He then glanced at Rhys again and gave a sort of muffled growl before putting them back in his pocket. "Look, now I feel like I should watch over you. So you now have the Big Bad as a protector, alright? And that'll make us even, yeah?"

"Um… sure. Actually, no! No! That's bad! You need to leave Sunnydale!"

"Why's that, Pet?"

"Because! If you don't leave Sunnydale then they'll catch you. They'll catch you and they'll twist up your insides and scoop out your instincts," Rhys finished with a slightly dreamy tone of voice.

"Er… you're not related to Drusilla at all, are you?"

"Who?"

"No one… So, who are this mysterious they?"

"You know that sentence made little to no sense, yes? And I don't know. I just know they're bad and they will change you. Cage you up and take your fangs. They'll make you become William again."

"Right… I'm not gonna lie to you, Pet. This entire conversation just went the way of no sense and slight discomfort."

"Not lying is always a good thing. Well, actually, my da says I should lie all the time to mortals, but well you're not a mortal so does that mean I should tell you the truth?"

"Nah, truth's overrated, Pet. Look, how about you get out of this plant-free sewer and I'll head on out of Sunnydale," Spike said, pushing away from the wall and straightening up even as he took out the cigarette pack once more, though he didn't light the one he place in his mouth.

"Promise? Do you promise you'll leave? You'll be able to come back one day but only once it's safe. Promise me you'll leave," Rhys said, making his eyes as wide as he could and giving the same expression that made even Oberon cave to his whims. It was his awesome secret weapon.

The puppy dog eyes.

Given the groan Spike gave, it apparently also worked on Vampires, which was good to know. "Fine, Pet. I promise I'll leave Sunnydale as soon as the sun sets. Now get to somewhere safe, yeah? I ain't leavin' until you're out of this sewer. Not right leaving baby sprites on their own without someone to protect them."

"Hey! I can look after myself! And don't believe Mother Willow, she lies!" Rhys added with a stomp of his foot and a nod of his head before he sighed and wiggled his fingers at Spike in farewell before leaving the sewer with his customary glitter cloud.

Spike just watched the gentle cascade of glitter float to the ground with a slightly exasperated look on his face before finally lighting the cigarette in his mouth and turning around with a flair of his duster behind him. "Bloody baby sprites. Dunno what his da was thinking leaving him alone on the Hellmouth of all bloody places."

A/N - Right, so… Rhys isn't a seer, by the way. He kinda has dreams like Buffy has dreams. Only his tend to revolve around things he can change. Or at least try to change. The white weddings and shotgun bit is in reference to one of Billy Idol's most well known songs. Well, well known if you're an Idol fan. Which, I shamelessly am. *Grins*

Rhys, by the way, is a baby. I mean, technically, if you worked it out, he'd be about two in sprite years. But due to his upbringing as a human, he's probably mentally more like a ten year old. Spike doesn't know that though, so in his eyes he's just had a conversation with a toddler on their own. A weird toddler, admittedly but hey, what toddler isn't weird. They're like tiny drunk people.

I hope I sort of got Spike right. It was strangely hard to get him vaguely Spike-like. And yes, I do like Spike and Xander. They're my favourite characters. I'm going to try and not bash anyone though. Because to be fair, I like most of the Buffy characters.

So let me know what you think and er… don't hurt me for this totally not being a chapter of Bitter Hug and thus depriving you all from another gloriously random fact (though, hopefully the next chapter for that won't be too long in coming). *Snickers* Hope you liked it!