Twining Vines (COMPLETE)

A distant, muffled moan filtered through her ears as consciousness sneaked up on her. Slowly, the ache in her limbs made itself known, along with a painful throbbing in her temples. She tried to move but it proved to be an impossible task for the time being. She pried her eyelids open to find herself staring up at a creamy white ceiling. She turned her head and realised she was laying in the middle of her living room. To her left Willow and Tara’s still forms were collapsed on the floor. A little further away was and equally unconscious Dawn. Gathering up all of her strength, Buffy was able to painfully prop herself up on her forearms. She dragged her nigglindy ady across the living room, until she reached her sister.

“Dawn…” she called out in a ky vky voice as her hand ran across the young girl’s cheek.

She didn’t stir and the Slayer felt her heart jump to attention as her fingers slipped under the turtleneck sweater to rest on the soft skin of her neck. Relief washed over her when she found a steady pulse throbbing against her hand.

“Dawn…” she whispered again.

Slowly, the young teen’s body seemed to respond to the hoarse voice that called her name. Her eyelids flickered open.

“Buffy…?” she asked as her blurry vision began to focus on two large green eyes.

“Are you ok?” Buffy asked worriedly.

Dawn swallowed dryly and nodded scanning the rest of the room to find five unconscious bodies scattered through the living room. Anya was slumped against a wall, Xander was splayed across the couch, Willow and Tara laid at his feet and It’s scrawny little form peeked from behind the armchair.

““ Da“ Dawn swallowed the acid taste her mouth and continued: “What happened?”

“Ah…” a muffled moan escaped Anya’s parted lips as she began to stir.

Slowly, everyone in the room joined in with their own laments as consciousness arrived in full force. They stared at each other in silence; the memories of what had just happened rushing them.

“Bloody hell.” The familiar London accent broke the stillness between them as a platinum head popped up from behind the couch.

Spike massaged the back of his head trying, at the same time, to steady his legs. His hands came to rest on his face rubbing his eyelids.

“Where is Sam?” Willow asked, scanning the room for the missing redhead.

“She disappeared right before…” Buffy trailed off when she noticed Spike staring up into thin air as if he were seeing something. “Spike…?”

He didn’t answer, merely stood there, eyide ide and glassy gazing into nothingness.

“Sam…” They heard him whisper as he took a step closer to whatever he was seeing.

“Spike, what is it?” Buffy insisted, standing up and crossing the room.

The motion caught in the corner of his eyes seemed to snap him out of his daze and he looked back at the rest of the group, which now stood still gawking at the vampire.His His brow furrowed as realisation came to him.

“You can’t see her?” he asked confused.

“See what?” Anya questioned.

Spike’s gaze drifted from the spot up in the air to the rest of grougroup and then back again.

“Her!” He pointed upwards.

The gang turned to look at the spot he was pointing to. Nothing, there was nothing there.

“She’s right there!” The vampire insisted.

“What are you talking about?” Buffy asked.

“Sam! She’s there just hovering in mid air.”

A confused frown settled collectively on the group’s eyebrows as they failed to see anything.

“She’s…” he trailed off looking up at the spectacle.

Her wilting form hovered in mid air, her arms and head falling loosely backwards, the red locks of her hair cascading down her arched back as a weak pulsating glow emanated from her motionless body.

In awe, the vampire took a step closer and reached for her. A small gasp escaped his lips when his hand ran straight through her as if she were a mere illusion.

The gang watched as Spike stepped forward and slowly waved his hand in the air.

“Sam…” he called out. She didn’t move, just remaine slu slu slumped as if hanging by a noose tied around her chest.

Suddenly, the soft white light that radiated from her was gone and a dark, black glow replaced it. The vampire immediately stepped back as he watched her start to convulse. Her arms and legs shook erratically as thin murky strings of light began to appear all over her. Soon, thousands of long snake-shaped strings crawled around her limbs and chest, twisting and turning.

Spike frozen in place as the eerie spectacle unfolded before his eyes. Then, as quickly as they had appeared, the black strings of light were gone, leaving only Sam’s hanging form to dangle in mid air.

The group watched the intricate range of emotions displayed on the vampire’s face – fear, awe, panic, terror. What was he seeing? Before they had time to ask it out loud, they had their answer. Out of nowhere, Sam’s slumped form appeared in mid air, right on the spot the vampire had been staring up at.

They all watched as her limp body bobbed up and for for a few seconds before crashing to the floor with a loud thud.

“Sam!”

Spike seemed to be the first to wake up from the collective daze. In a flash, he was kneeling by her side, his hand brushing the fiery locks away from her face. Soon, the rest of the group joined him.

“What happened?” Willow asked.

“I don’t know.” The vampire answered, his eyes never leaving the unconscious girl.

“We better get her to a hospital.” Dawn offered.

“And say what? Excuse me doctor, could you take a look at my friend, she seems to have had a slight case of ‘hanging up in the mid air’?” Anya asked sarcastically.

“We better get her upstairs.”

Before Buffy could finish her sentence, Spike had already crawled his hands under Sam’s legs and neck, swept her up into his arms and was making his way to the first floor of the house.

~+~

“How is she?” Dawn asked nervously rubbing her hands together when she saw Willow come into the kitchen.

“She seems to be ok.” The witch answered.

“What’s wrong with her?” It was Buffy’s turn to question.

“I can’t find anything wrong with her, not physically.”

“Maybe magic?” It piped up from his spot in the corner.

“Tara is doing a spell right now, to see if that’s it.” Willow informed the group.

There was silence for a second as they looked at each other. Millions of questions ran through their minds, only one thing seemed to be clear – Sam had saved them and that had probably caused her current catatonic state.

Buffy watched from the corner of her eyes, observing the vampire who paced nervously in the living room. He hadn’t said a word since he had taken Sam up to Buffy’s room and laid her on the bed. He had simply run his hand over the redhead’s paled cheek and made his way downstairs, leaving Sam in Willow, Tara and Anya’s care.

The Slayer stood up and walked out of the kitchen. She remained motionless at the doorway to the living room, leaning slightly against the threshold, watching him.

Her scent was the first thing that alerted him to her presence, but he continued to pace around, drowned in his thoughts. They stayed that way for a few moments, lingering in a comfortable silence as Buffy waited for him to speak.

“Is she going to be ok?” He finally asked, coming to a halt, his eyes glued to the floor.

“We don’t know yet.” She answered in a low voice.

He swallowed hard before looking up at her.

“I don’t know what she is.” He stated simply. “She just came by one night and said she was there to protect me.” He paused before adding: “She’s not evil. She saved us.”

“I know.”

“I-“ The vampire was cut off as the sound of someone bursting through a door echoed in the room.

Three or four footsteps were heard before a tired, breathless Giles appeared before them.

“Buffy! Oh, thank God you’re alright!” the ex-watcher gasped.

“Giles! What are you doing here?” Buffy exclaimed as she helped Giles make his way to the couch.

He plopped onto the comfortable sofa, taking huge gulps of air, while the rest of the gang walked into the room.

“I…” He gasped once again, still breathless.

He watched as everyone gathered around him.

“Giles!” A squeaky voice piped up as It popped his head from behind Willow.

“Oh, God! What is that thing?” the ex-librarian asked giving the creature a disgusted look.

It’s lower lip jutted out for a painful pout as he recoiled to a corner.

“It’s a Khind’Ara demon.” Anya replied.

“What is it doing here?” The man questioned.

“It’s…” Dawn started, but soon got caught up in figuring out how to explain the situation to the librarian.

“It’s a long story.” Buffy cut in, taking a seat next to Giles. “What are you doing here?”

He never answered, merely reached for the remote control that lay on the coffee table and turned on the TV. They all watched as the first images flickered on the screen.

‘Two more bodies were found, this time at a local bar in Sunnydale. No cause of death has been established although, apparently, these corpses also showed clear signs of drowning much like the other 10 cadavers found earlier today.’

The reporter spoke quickly as behind her the coroner’s department dragged two bagged bodies into a van.

The news continued with strange reports of a series of deaths of the most bizarre causes: spontaneous combustion ie mie middle of the street, hypothermia in a restaurant, two or three carcasses found half devoured in their own homes with no signs of forced entrance.

They watched in silence until Giles finally turned off the TV.

“We’ve got big trouble.” He stated simply.

“It’s because of the universe mixing thing!” Xander spoke, still staring at the black screen. “While we were in Sam’s bubbly thing, everyone else was outside.” The young man looked back at the gang as realisation hit them.

“Sam? Who’s Sam?” Giles asked confused.

Everyone looked at each other and back to Spike. No one really had the answer.

“We don’t know who she is.” Buffy was the one to speak. “All we know is that she was the one who protected us when…” She trailed off, taking a moment to consider her choice of words. “Something strange has been happening, Giles. The universes are getting all-“

“Mixed up.” The ex-watcher completed her phrase.

“How did yoow?”ow?” Anya questioned with a frown.

“Back home, we detected the disturbance, but it’s only affecting Sunnydale, for now. I got on the first plane here as soon as I could.” Giles explained.

“What’s causing this?” Willow asked.

“We don’t know yet. We think someone or something might be meddling with the natural order of things and that is causing a powerful unbalance and as a result different universes seem to be clashing together.” The ex-librarian offered.

“How do we figure out who is doing the unbalancing?” Anya asked.

Giles simply looked at her - a blank expression on his face.

“Giles!” Tara’s soft voice was heard from behind the crowd that still gathered around the librarian. “Wha-what are you doing here?”

“Trying to help.” He answered turning to Buffy as he continued. “We have to research this. I don’t think we have much time. This last event was really strong and the next time it’ll only be worse.”

As the two continued to speak, the vampire slipped behind the couch to reach Tara. In a low voice he asked:

“Is she going to be ok?”

Tara shook her head: “I-I don’t know. There doesn’t seem to be anything magically wrong with her. All we can do now is wait.”

Without another word the vampire moved behind her and walked up the stairs unnoticed by the rest of the gang.

~+~

Slowly, he closed the door behind him, careful not to make too much noise. She laid on her back, motionless, eyes closed, auburn locks scattered over the white pillow. He stood by the foot of the bed for a few minutes before taking a seat next to her still form.

~+~

“So he’s from a parallel universe?” Giles asked with a frown as he stared at the strange creature fumbling with the remote in its scrawny hands.

Buffy nodded.

“And that’s not the worst.” Xander started. “Guess who Buffy’s married to over there?”

“Xander!” Willow scolded between clenched teeth when she saw the blush take over the Slayer’s pale cheeks.

“To Spike! Isn’t that hilarious?” the young man laughed, but no one joined in.

“Well, we don’t know what happened in that universe, so…”

Everyone froze and stared at Giles as if he had grown a second head.

“What?” Xander exclaimed confused. “How can you be so carefree about this? We’re talking about Spike, here.” The young man insisted looking around the room, but failed to find the vampire. “Speaking of evil dead, where did he go?”

“He went upstairs to check on Sam.” Tara piped up.

“Who is Sam?” Giles questioned once more.

Everyone remained in silence and Buffy was the one to break the stillness:

“We really don’t know.”

At her answer the librarian furrowed his brow.

“All we know is that she just showed up one night saying that she was here to protect Spike and that she saved us when the whole… thing happened.” The slayer explained.

“Maybe she’s the one causing the unbalance.” Giles offered.

Everyone looked at each other. Could it be?

~+~

Spike watched her in silence when she suddenly stirred. A low moan escaped her parted lips as she slowly turned on the bed, her shirt twisting slightly as she did so, her shoulder slipping out from under the white fabric. Instinctively, the vampire reached for the material to cover the white, smooth skin when something caught his attention – a small, reddened, circle-shaped mark below her sharp collarbone.

A deep frown settled over his eyebrows as he contemplated it. There was something extremely familiar about it. What was it? As he questioned himself, Sam continued to stir sluggishly, turning her head to face Spike. Her eyelids flickered a bit, but she was still in a daze when she looked at him from under hooded eyes.

“Hum…” she mumbled hoarsely as the vampire continued to stare at the mark. “William…?”

The word came out as a mere whisper but it seemed to unlock something inside him. Suddenly, all of his senses were heighten, her soft scent of jasmine intensified causing his nostrils to flare, her scarlet curls, her pale complexion, her obsidian eyes, all of them scattered pieces of a long lost puzzle that now seemed to come together to draw the picture of a small child. Long forgotten silly giggles echoed in his ears, blurred flashes of the past flickered before his dazed eyes – a laugh, a glimpse of a blue dress, pieces of a black board scattered on the floor. He pulled back for a second as the memories seemed to literally assault his mind. Without thinking, the name tumbled from his mouth:

“Samara…?”

A partially conscious Sam looked back at him, a hint of fear and uncertainty swimming in her black eyes.

“Hello… William.” She breathed.