Twining Vines (COMPLETE)

Part XIX - Fusion

“What do you mean the magic is coming from-“ Xander cut his sentence short when a distant roaring sound was heard. “What is that?” He questioned when the noise became louder and the lights on the ceiling started to flicker.

“It sound like-“

Giles wasn’t able to finish as the entire room suddenly began to shake. The group wobbled, trying to find balance but the shuddering grew in intensity and eventually Anya tumbled to the floor.

“Anya!” Xander cried out coming to kneel next to her.

“I’m ok.” She replied over the roaring sound that ened ted them. Her hand came to rest on her distorted face. “What’s happening? I feel like… a vengeance demon.”

Instinctively, Willow leaned over Tara’s unconscious body, shielding her from the debris that started to fall from the ceiling as the building started to crack under the vibrations.

“Is it an earthquake?” Dawn shouted her question.

“I don’t know.” Giles replied holding onto the nearest wall for balance.

“We have to get out of here.” Buffy yelled.

“We can’t move Tara, and Sam is too weak to walk.” Willow replied just as the lights went out and they were left in total darkness.

“Buffy and I will carry them.” Spike spoke up kneeling down next to Sam; his heightened vampiric vision allowing him to see through the thick veil of blackness.

He was putting her arm around the back of his neck when suddenly the ceiling on the far end of the room collapsed. Instantly, the building was flooded in a mixture of shadows and glows of soft blue as the moonlight filtered through the large gap on the roof.

“Everyone move. Now!” Buffy ordered, kneeling next to Willow and Tara.

Anya stumbled onto her feet with Xander’s aid as the ground continued to shake.

“It’s happening. We can’t stop it.” Spike heard Sam whisper weakly into his ear while he leaned against her to scoop her up.

Everyone froze when, as quickly as it had started, the roaring noise and shaking stopped. They eyed each other; the frightening feeling that this was merely the calm before the storm creeping into their chests.

A small bright light floating in the middle of the room caught their attention. It soared a few inches off the ground for a few seconds before a sharp, high pitch sound was heard and they saw the white glow literally tear its way through the air like lightning. Everyone’s hands immediately went to cover their ears as the shrill became too loud to bear.

Willow felt her heartbeat accelerate to a frightening speed and she drew shallow, asphyxiating breaths from her lungs.

“Willow?” Buddy called out as she stepped away from Tara to tend to her best friend. Her black eyes were wide and filled with fear. “Willow what’s-“

She stopped when she saw the witch’s trembling finger lift to point at the middle of the room. She turned to look at whatever had caught the redhead’s attention and gasped at what she saw – Willow… another Willow was sitting Indian-style in the middle of the room. She was surrounded by the bright white light, her raven hair floating around her. She was chanting something, but whatever she was saying was impossible to hear as the sharp shrill continued to sound around them.

Buffy’s eyes drifted erratically from the Willow in the middle of the room to the one at her side. The latter was now clutching her chest, her mouth partially open, and her facial muscles contorted painfully as she continued to suffocate. The Slayer watched in terror as her best friend’s body started to lift off the ground and was left hanging in midair. Willow on the other hand seemed to be unaware of her airborne state. She continued to hold onto her chest and began to jerk spasmodically as if a powerful voltage was coursing through her. After a few excruciating seconds the witch’s body suddenly went limp, her lifeless arms fell to her sides, her legs dangled in the air while her head hung motionless; her hair cascading down her back.

“Oh, my God.” Dawn gasped.

“Willow!” Buffy screamed when the redhead’s body started to drift towards its counterpart, still sitting in the middle of the room, unaware of what was happening.

As the two drew closer, the one sitting on the floor began to have the same reactions as the first one. Her breath came in short pants and soon she was clutching at her chest and floating in midair. Hovering closer and closer together, their bodies finally touched. The group watched in awe as the light around them grew in intensity, pulsating, and the two witches began to merge. The conscious Willow let out an inhuman scream as her arm fused with her counterpart’s, one melting into the other. In a slow and excruciatingly painful process their hairs, eyes, mouths and noses melted into one another until there was only one entity left. As the ungodly sight came to an end there was complete silence and all that was left was an unconscious Willow suspended in midair, surrounded by light.

“Willow…” Buffy breathed in a weak voice after a short pause.

Her footsteps over the wreckage echoed in the silent room as she came closer to the redhead. Anya quickly took her place next to Tara’s still unconscious body.

“Willow…” She whispered again, her hand reaching up, but just as their fingers were about to touch Buffy jerked away letting out a cry.

“Buffy!”

In a flash, Spike was standing next to her.

“I-I’m fine. It shocked me. The light.” She tried to explain; a confused frown marring her forehead.

“What just happened here?” Dawn asked. “I-Is that Willow?”

Slowly, the woman floating in the air began to come around. Her eyelids blinked a couple of times before her eyes opened to reveal total darkness. She didn’t even bother to glance at the people in the room. Her unseeing gaze focused on a distant point in front of her as she began chanting once again. Her lips moved but no sound was coming out. It was as if someone had just pushed the mute button.

“Willow.” Buffy called out again, but received no answer. “Willow, can you hear me? Willow!”

Nothing.

Instinctively, Buffy reached up, but once again was forced to move back when a powerful jolt shocked her.

“It’s not Willow.”

Everyone turned to look at Sam who was now partially sitting on the mat.

“Not just yours, anyway.” She added.

“What do you mean, not just ours?” Xander questioned. “But she was right there. She can’t have just disappeared. She must be… inside of *her* somehow.” He pointed at the chanting woman.

“Oh, she’s in there somewhere. But she’s not the one in charge right now.” Sam explained.

“Who is?” Anya questioned, her fingers threading through Tara’s hair as she tried to push the rebellious locks away from the witch’s face.

“The other one.” Giles was the one to provide the answer this time. He took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose before his gaze met Sam’s. The redhead merely nodded as she got an image from the ex-librarian’s mind. “She’s the one causing the shifting.”

“What?” Dawn asked. “How?”

“She’s the one using the magic. That’s why it seemed like there was a barrier when Tara tried to track it down. There wasn’t any mystical barrier. Tara couldn’t pinpoint the origin of the magic because it wasn’t coming from our universe.” Giles finished explaining putting his glasses back on. “Kind of arrogant of us…” He paused watching Willow’s hovering form chant. “…to think that out of all the universes possible, the exact one where the disturbance was originated was ours.”

Everyone paused for a second. Everything seemed to be coming together. Who would have the power? Who would be strong enough to master such great magic that would cause the universes to bleed together? The answer now seemed clear – Willow.

Buffy was the first to react.

“We have to stop her.” Turning to look at Willow’s hovering form she shouted: “Willow!”

There was absolutely no reaction.

“She can’t hear you.” Spike realised.

“Why not?”

“She’s in between universes. That’s why we can’t hear her.” Giles explained.

“There has to be a way to make her stop and listen.” Buffy insisted. “Willow!”

Nothing.

“Willow! Listen to me. You gotta stop whatever you’re doing. Willow!”

“Buffy…” Spike’s voice was a mere whisper cutting through her shouting.

She turned to look at the vampire standing next to her.

“You’re bleeding.”

The Slayer’s hand instinctively reached up to touch her nose. When she looked down it was covered by a thick string of blood. Suddenly, she doubled over, as if she had just been punched in the stomach. A muffled cry escaped her parted lips and slowly a bleeding wound started to eat its way through her skin until a large gash was formed on her left cheek.

“Buffy!” Dawn screamed.

“It’s happening to you too.” Spike realised as he wrapped one arm around her waist when she stumbled back.

“Willow.” She called again.

Spike glanced around at the floor and picked up a rock.

“Better try throwing this.” He offered bringing his hand back and throwing the stone with all his strength. There was a collective gasp when the rock hit the light and instantly dissolved into dust.

Suddenly, the ground underneath them began to shake once again. This time the vibrations were twice as strong and soon everyone had tumbled to the ground. The ceiling began to cave in, falling all around Willow, creating a cloud of dust that filled the entire room, temporarily blinding its occupants.

Buffy coughed violently, her hand coming to cover her mouth as she tried hard to breathe. She was blinking wildly, trying to look through the thick cloud when, suddenly, between the shades of blue and black she saw a steel beam coming straight at her. The next thing she was aware of was a flash of black and then she was being ro on on the ground. She ended up trapped under a hard body that pressed against hers, effectively shielding her from falling debris.

The familiar scent of old, worn leather and cigarettes surrounded her. It took a few seconds for her to register the two strong hands cradling the sides of her head and the fact that her face was buried between skin and leather.

“Are you ok?” His voice was raspy and low; his concern evident.

Even though her mind seemed lost in a haze just as thick and as blinding as the one surrounding her, her body reacted automatically and she nodded numbly. That was when he moved. He lifted his head slightly, his hands still framing her face, as he looked down on her. His pupils were wide, leaving only a thin circle of blue in his iris. Even though the floor underneath them continued to shake she seemed unaware of it as she stared up at him.

“You sure?” He insisted as he let his index finger trace the gash on her cheek.

She nodded once again. Without another word he rolled off and crouched next to her. With his aid she stumbled to a standing position as the cloud of dust settled around them to reveal an open sky above them. There was no trace of the ceiling.

After the momentary numbness Buffy’s body reacted and her eyes immediately darted towards the rest of the group. She exhaled in relief when she found all of them huddled in a corner. Well, almost all of them.

“Where’s Sam?” she asked.

Their gaze fell over the spot on the mat where the redhead had been laying until now. Spike felt his stomach turn when he saw a large portion of the ceiling in its place.

“Sam…” He whispered.

Before he had time to mourn or even react a violent vibration that surpassed the intensity of all the ones that had preceded it, shook the entire building and what was left of it started to crumble. Out of nowhere a fracture on the floor started to form. Eating its way through the linoleum and splitting the room in half, it left behind a large fissure that separated Buffy, Spike and Willow from the rest of the group.

“Buffy!” Dawn shouted from the other side.

“Stay there!” Buffy ordered lifting up her hand, still marred with blood as the ground continued to shake underneatem; em; the crack becoming larger by the second. “Don’t move!”

“Tara!”

Anya’s voice cut through the noise.

“I think she’s coming around.” The vengeance demon announced, her wrinkled hand resting on the young woman’s neck. “But her pulse is getting weaker and she’s getting cold.” Turning her attention to the woman lying on her lap she whispered: “Tara…”

The witch blinked a couple of times, trying to focus her eyes on the face looking down on her. She gasped and jolted a bit at the sight of Anya’s demonic visage.

“It’s me Anya. Don’t move. You’re wounded. Just stand still and we’ll get you out of here.”

Closing her eyes for a second she nodded weakly.

“Buffy, we have to do something.” Dawn cried out.

The Slayer was about to reply when Spike’s voice sounded:

“Sam!”

Everyone turned to look in the same direction as the vampire, but there was nothing to see.

“Spike?” Buffy questioned.

He simply stared at a blank spot in midair. His wide eyes announcing that whatever he was seeing was drawing closer.

“Oh, my God!” Giles gasped when suddenly Sam’s body materialized in front of them.

She was hovering just a few inches off the fissure on the ground, her arms were spread out at her sides, her head bowed and her long auburn curls flowing down to completely cover her face. After a few seconds, what sounded like a soft and weak mumbling grew into loud chanting words.

They watched in sil as as the light that surrounded Willow stretched through the air to reach Sam, coming closer and closer until the two floating women were immersed in it.

Slowly, Samara’s head lifted up, her curtain of hair parted to allow a glance at the pale complexion of her face. Her black eyes were narrowed, her lips moving fast as she voiced out a mantra of incomprehensible words in an otherworldly language.

“What is she doing?” Dawn asked to no one in particular.

“She’s bringing Willow into our universe.” Giles explained; his eyes fixed on the two women.

As the light began to pulsate, Sam’s effort to control it became evident. Her ghostly hands, which hand been firmly spread out began to shake violently and her voice, once sure and strong, was now weak and faltering.

She closed her eyes for a second, swallowing hard before she opened them again and began to chant once more.

Slowly, the glow that had been surrounding Willow started to dim as it abandoned her to engulf Samara completely. As the witch tumbled to the floor, Sam, who was still suspended in midair, stiffened. Her head was thrown back, her facial muscles contorted and her mouth fell open. It was clear that she was screaming in pain, but none of them could hear it. Not anymore. The light drew closer and closer to her. It seemed to penetrate every single pore in her body until it was gone.

There was a fraction of a second in which Samara was simply hovering in the air, suspended like she had been in the beginning when, suddenly, thin, black strings of light began to flow from under her clothes. The strings grew into thick lustrous ropes that twisted around her tightly; turning around her neck, her waist and limbs. Spike swallowed hard as he remembered the same thing happening to her in Buffy’s living room the day before. He watched frozen in place and silent as the black glow spread over her white skin, twining between the red locks of her hair until she was completely immersed in darkness. In the end, in her place all that was left was a large gaping hole of black light. It grew smaller and smaller until it was reduced to a simple dark dot in the air. And then it was gone.

All eyes in the room were now fixed on a blank spot in midair when:

“I should have guessed that little Buffy had something to do with this. So… you came back for more, huh?”

Everyone turned to look in the opposite direction and find a raven-haired Willow stumbling to her feet. Her darkened eyes focused over Spike and Buffy, her back turned to the rest of the group that was standing on the other side of the large precipice.

“Willow.” Buffy breathed as she turned to look at her. She suppressed a hiss when the movement sparked a dilacerating pain at her side. ‘Great. Apparently my other self also has a couple of broken ribs.’ She grumbled inwardly.

Without a thought, Spike was at her side, two strong hands holding her arm.

“And you brought Spike with you. Isn’t that just sweet? The two lovebirds together to fight the big, bad girl.”

“Willow?” Buffy questioned again, her head tilting to the side.

There was something completely different about the Willow that was now standing in front of her. Maybe it was the cold and scornful tone in her voice, or simply the frightening lack of whites in her eyes.

The witch mockingly mimicked Buffy’s motions with a head tilt.

“Buffy?”

“Willow, you have to stop this.” Buffy spoke.

“Really? And why is that?” She asked but never gave the Slayer a chance to reply. “Oh, no! Wait!” she lifted her hand up. “Let me guess. Because it’s… wrong?” Her eyebrows came together for a second and her lower lip jutted out for a pout. “Guess what?” Her childish expression turned into a cold, unfeeling one as she added: “I don’t care.”

“You don’t understand.” Buffy insisted, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. “I don’t know what you’re doing but you have to stop it or-”

“Or what? You’re going to get your ass kicked by me…” She paused and a creepy smile spread over her lips. “…again? It’s getting kind of pathetic, don’t you think?”

“You’re causing the entire universes to collapse.”

“Now that’s just a bit over-dramatic, don’t you think? It’s just a simple time skipping spell.” She continued to mock.

“A time- You’re trying to turn back time? Is that it?” Spike gasped.

“And the prize goes to the Slayer’s fanged lapdog.” Willow announced sarcastically.

Spike couldn’t help but growl.

“I thought you had decided to split after the nasty bathroom incident.” Willow’s eyes narrowed again and a satisfied smirk spread over her lips when she saw the horrified look on Spike’s face.

“Willow, listen to me. You can’t do that. The spell you’re using is causing-“

“Don’t you think that six years of listening to you is more than enough?” The raven-haired woman asked. “Oh, right… I forget. You’re the Slayer. Which means that you get to tell everyone what to do. Well, guess what… You are NOT going to stop me from getting *her* back.” The pain filtered through the rage in her faltering voice. “No one’s EVER going to take her away from me again.”

Buffy tried to stand up, her mind commanding her body not to feel the pain that was coursing through her, but as she movowarowards her target Willow’s hand lifted and suddenly Buffy was projected across the room. Her body skittered over the ground, opening up a path free of debris in her wake.

“Buffy!” Dawn shouted as Spike ran to kneel next to the Slayer.

The young Summers’ voice caught Willow’s attention.

“Oh, look, the whole gang is here! Isn’t this just heart-warming?” She mocked coldly as she turned to look at the group huddled in a corner. “ Xander… Giles! You’re back! Good to see you.” She greeted with fake enthusiasm. Her expression turned into a disgusted one when she turned to look at Dawn. “And of course… hysterical mini-Buffy, as always, is whining her head off.”

A coughing sound coming from behind Giles caught the witch’s attention.

Without a word, they watched as the ex-redhead glided over the floor, coming closer to the precipice that separated them from her. Effortlessly, she hovered over the abyss.

“Let’s see who else is here.” She said tilting her head, trying to identify the two other forms lying on the floor behind Giles, Dawn and Xander.

“Stay away from-“

One swift move of her finger and Xander found himself voiceless.

“Shush, Xander. I’m done listening to you. I’m in the mood for some fun.” She lifted her head up, her nose sniffing the air a few times. “My guess for secret identity number one is…” Her gaze focussed on Xander and a leer took over her lips. “…Anya. You can never go wrong with that vengeance demon aroma.”

“That’s enough Willow.” Buffy’s angered voice echoed in the crumbling room.

Willow turned slowly to find the Slayer barely standing on the other side of the cliff.

“Ok, this is getting really old. Kicking your ass just isn’t fun anymore. But if you insist.”

Willow raised her hand and almost simultaneously Buffy was lifted off the floor. The blonde’s hands immediately went for her neck, struggling with the invisible force that was strangling her.

“Buffy!” Dawn screamed.

“That’s enough shrieking from you, little mouse.” Willow commanded.

Instantly, Dawn was silenced even though the witch’s her attention never drifted from Buffy. Her body convulsed, her fturnturned a frightening shade of blue and her eyes began to roll back in their socks. Her legs jerked and blindly kicked the air as she tried to find release from the witch’s unseeing grip. She was close to loosing consciousness when…

“Willow…” Tara’s weak voice was barely audibly but it was enough to make Willow’s entire body freeze.

Buffy’s tumbled limply to the floor as Willow turned to find her lover lying on Anya’s lap, blood still dripping from her torn shirt.