Rated: PG
Summary: An alternate ending to "Chosen". Where did Spike end up after the collapse of the Hellmouth, and what if he didn't wind up there alone?
Pairing: Willow/Spike
Spoilers: Almost all of Buffy, season 7 and a hint of the first episode of Angel, season 5. Things are canon halfway through the last episode of Buffy, but from there things end up VERY AU.
Distribution: Winter of Spillow, Near Her Always, Red's Soulmates, WLS and my livejournal
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They belong to Mr. Joss Whedon and Co. The plot, however, is all mine. Mine, I tell you. Mine! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!
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Willow watched Kennedy run from Robin's office, mystical scythe in hand. She wavered for a moment, then fell to her side weakly, a goofy grin on her face. "That was nifty."
She'd just completed a complex and powerful spell transforming all living potentials into slayers, and the earth's energy was still throbbing in her veins, like a secondary heartbeat. The magic brimming in her body was slowly beginning to ebb, however her physical strength was already pretty much nil. Centering herself so completely and drawing on the scythe's powers left her drained.
Willow shuddered, feeling the earth shake underneath her. She knew a battle of immense proportions raged right under her, in the heart of the Hellmouth. As she laid against the cold tile floor trying to gather her strength, Willow prayed silently to her goddess for her friends' safety and for a victory over the First.
She heard sounds in the hallway just outside the office door that indicated the new slayers weren't able to fully hold back all of the Turok Hans. If one decided to take a gander into the principle's office she might as well kiss her wiccan butt good-bye, as weakened as she was at that moment. Gathering her strength, she began to sit up just as the floor in front of her exploded and a beam of brilliant golden light shot upwards through the resulting hole. The light erupted through the ceiling and eventually through the roof, which Willow discovered as she peered upwards and caught a glimpse of a clear spring sky.
A new sound was heard outside of the office...the sound of frightened slayers. They were running down the hall, feet pounding frantically in a bid to escape...what? The demons? The Hellmouth? What was going on? Willow was pretty sure she also heard Faith's voice telling everyone to evacuate. Well, you didn't have to tell her twice.
Standing on shaky legs, Willow willed them to hold her upright until she could escape with the others. She took a faltering step forward just as the entire earth rumbled beneath her, shifting the school and everything in it. Losing her balance, Willow stumbled, then screamed as she fell through the hole in the floor.
As she tumbled through the golden light, she felt it warming her skin. Willow closed her eyes, certain she was falling to her death, and continued to scream. Her downward spiral stopped suddenly when she felt strong arms wrap around her and hold the stunned witch close to an equally strong chest. Her eyes fluttered open and met Spike's surprised and pain-filled gaze.
Her fingers grabbed at his shirtfront to brace herself, and Willow wound up clutching the amulet as well. She suddenly felt pain override her and Spike's mingled shock as it rushed through them. It seared their bodies as the world around them quaked and rocks fell dangerously close to the duo. She stared in horror as Spike slowly turned to ash, and looked down, seeing the same thing happen to her own body. With a sob of terror, Willow realized that for the first time she wouldn't make it through an apocalypse.
Then darkness engulfed her and silence reigned.
*****************************************
Willow's lashes fluttered as consciousness began to return. Even when her eyes opened, however, she saw nothing. She was in a pitch black void. The only things that could be heard were the sounds of her own breathing and the dull thudding of her heart, which Willow noticed began to pick up speed as her anxiety increased.
She thought there would be pain. She distinctly remembered pain. Willow wasn't crazy. Whatever happened to her had hurt like the dickens! But now...no pain. She didn't even have a headache or a nosebleed, which was rare after doing the kind of spell she'd done with the scythe.
Willow began pulling herself into a sitting position, but the hand she used to brace herself pressed down on a cool slick material. She pulled back like she'd been struck by a scorpion, wondering what or who was with her.
"Oi! Watch the hands!"
The familiar voice of a certain snippy British vampire never sounded so welcome.
"Spike?" Willow reached out, running her hands over the form laying next to her. She realized it was his leather duster she'd felt when she tried to sit up before. Willow found the lapels of his jacket and drew the vampire into a relieved hug.
"Oh, my Goddess, Spike! I woke up and I couldn't see, and there was the pain, but then it was gone, and it's all dark, and I thought I was alone. But then I'm not because you're here! Where is here? Can you see anything, you know, with your vampy eyesight? I can conjure a light if we need to. Oh, and are you okay? Because I remember the light, and I swear you were going all dusty. Wait a minute, so was I! Why do you think that is? Because I'm not a vampire or anything, so no need for little ol' me to go poof. What do you think..."
"Red!" Spike growled while rubbing the heel of his hand over his forehead. "Would you please shut your yap and give a bloke a minute to get himself together?"
Lowering her eyes, Willow still retained a firm grip on the leather coat. "Sorry." She whispered.
There was silence, then a long sigh in the dark emerged from Spike. "S'alright, pet. Just woke up is all. I know just as much as you. Don't know where the hell we are." He squinted, trying to catch a glimpse of their surroundings.
"Can you see anything?' Willow asked tentatively.
"Not a damn thing." Grumbled Spike. "Just darkness as far as the naked eye can see. Sure you can conjure us some light after the mad mojo you worked earlier?" He looked down at her shadowed features, barely visible in the void in which they found themselves.
"I think so. I feel fine." She answered after taking internal stock of her body's condition.
"Need any smelly herbs or bat stones for this spell?" Spike leaned back on his hands, keeping an eyes on the little witch kneeling next to him.
Willow rolled her eyes. "No. Just a little meditation is all I really need. And for your information, bat stones are only used in spells to increase a man's...uh, his, um...potency." She was glad the dark covered her light blush. It was never a good idea to discuss things like freeze dried bat balls with Spike. The man had a way of twisting things around to make even the most innocent comment sound raunchy...at least before the soul.
Spike chuckled lightly. "Interestin' spells you know there, pet. We'll talk about it later, though. Right now why don't you shed some light on our situation."
"Right. Light. 'Kay." Willow awkwardly squirmed into a sitting position while still clutching at Spike's duster.
"Uh, Willow, don't you need to let go...of the leather that is." Even though she couldn't see it, she just knew he had that eyebrow raised and was smirking at her in the dark.
"Umm, okay, but you won't go anywhere, right?" She nibbled her lower lip, afraid that if she released her grip on the only solid thing in her world at that moment that Spike would disappear too, and she really would be alone.
"Not goin' anywhere, Red." He murmured softly. Spike could sense her nervousness and covered her hand with his own, giving it a light squeeze. "Now let up on the coat and do your little spell."
"Right. I can do this. Just let go." She muttered to herself and then had to wiggle her fingers, stiffened from her iron grip, upon letting go.
Willow moved into a lotus position and rested the backside of her wrists upon her knees, trying to center herself again to form the ball of light they needed. She peeked from one eye into the darkness, and hesitated.
"I'm still here, Red. Make with the mojo."
She released a sigh of relief and concentrated again. She tried to pull on the earth's magic, call it to herself and wrap it around her body, and Willow got...
"Nothing!" Her eyes popped open, realizing that she couldn't feel the earth. She couldn't feel her magic any longer. It drained upon her awakening and now it was just...gone. Willow felt a tendril of panic stir within her. If she couldn't feel the earth that meant they weren't *on* the earth, and that was pretty darn panic-worthy in her mind. "Spike, I can't feel it. The magic, it's not there. The earth isn't here! Where are we?" Her voice rose with each sentence, the tension infusing each word obvious.
She once again fumbled in the dark for Spike, this time finding his hand. Hers was shaking and damp. His was cool and only slightly reassuring in the fact that she wasn't in this mess alone. He squeezed her hand lightly.
"Give it another go, Red. You just woke up, so maybe that voodoo you do just needs a little time to kick in."
His calm words gave her the strength to push down the beginnings of hysteria bubbling deep inside herself, and try again. Willow took a deep breath and closed her eyes, not that the darkness behind closed lids was any different then whey they were open, but it was habit. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth, centering herself and beginning the search for her magic. She found not even a glimmer, not even a spark.
"Spike." Willow nibbled her lower lip as her eyes opened once again. "I...I don't feel anything."
"Whadda ya mean?" He leaned forward, peering closely at her with concern. Even in the dark he could make out the lost look on her face.
"I can't feel my magic. It's gone." Her voice quavered slightly, feeling naked without the power that had become such a part of her. Willow felt a tentative arm slip around her shoulders.
"S'alright, Red. You're probably still drained from the slayer spell. Know I feel like I've been through a war myself. Could use a bit of shut eye before we do anythin' else." He pulled her to his side and tried not to jerk in surprise when Willow wrapped her arms around his waist in response to his comfort.
"Do you think it's safe? To sleep here, I mean. We don't know what's out there." She tried unsuccessfully to peer through the inky darkness around them.
"Nothin's out there at all, pet. Least nothin' I can see. Can't hear anythin' either, 'cept you."
When he felt her hesitation, Spike squeezed her shoulder slightly and lowered his voice. "Get some sleep, Willow. Get your strength back and you can try your little night light spell again, eh?"
Reluctantly, Willow nodded, feeling her exhaustion suddenly dragging at her body. She laid down on her back, and heard Spike settle in beside her. They weren't touching, but she could still feel his presence next to her in the dark. Surprisingly it was a comfort. As she drifted off to sleep, her last thought was 'Who ever thought sleeping next to a vampire would be a good thing?'.
***************************************
When next Willow opened her eyes, she blinked several times before remembering that there was no light to be seen. She reached out a hand, searching for her partner in this new adventure. Willow felt herself relax when she encountered a leather clad arm. She hadn't even realized she'd been tense.
"'Bout bloody time you woke up." Spike's voice, from very close to her ear, startled the already nervous redhead.
"You're awake?" Her head turned toward the direction of his voice.
"Been awake." Spike pulled back, feeling her breath brush his lips, warm and soft.
"Oh. How long was I asleep?" Willow stretched slightly and let loose a lingering yawn. She heard the creak of leather and could picture his nonchalant shrug.
"Not sure. A few more hours than me, but I don't know how long I was out. Don't own a watch, ya know?"
"Yeah. I get that. Why would you need to worry about time if you're immortal, right?" Willow grinned into the darkness.
"Actually, I always lost 'em or broke 'em, so I just stopped botherin'."
"Oh."
Spike rose to a sitting position and cracked his neck, the pop startling the redhead next to him.
"What was that?"
"Just my neck. Got a crick sleepin' wrong."
"Oh." Willow sat up as well and twiddled her thumbs for a while in the prolonged silence.
"Are you hungry?" She asked suddenly.
"You offerin'?" Spike leaned closer to sniff in the general vicinity of her neck.
"What? Oh! No!" Willow leaned back, avoiding what she assumed to be his nose brushing against her skin. "I was just wondering. See, I was too nervous to eat before we left for the school, and I was too nervous to eat the night before. Technically I should be starving, you know, but I'm not. So are you? Hungry that is."
Spike thought about it and realized he wasn't either. His stomach wasn't rumbling and the vampire didn't feel a speck of bloodlust with a perfectly suitable donor sitting right next to him. "'M not, either."
"Don't you think that's kind of strange?" Willow nibbled her lower lip and wondered again where they heck they were.
"What I think is strange is that we're probably stuck in some bloody dimension that never even heard of a damn light switch. Feel up to givin' your spell another go, Red?" He prompted the girl next to him.
Shrugging, Willow rose to a sitting position. "Sure. I feel fine."
"Right, then. See if you can conjure up a flashlight, or even a lantern of some sort, would ya?"
Willow took a deep breath and nodded. "'Kay. Well, here goes nothing."
**************************************
Nothing was exactly what they got. There was no use denying it. Obviously Willow's magic didn't work wherever they'd landed. It left her feeling more than a little vulnerable. With no actual weapons and no magic, her only form of protection was her own intellect and Spike.
He suggested they explore a little, get a feel for the lay of the land so to speak. Not that there was any land to see. Even to Spike's eyes, all that was visible was a stretch of flat, black, unforgiving ground. There was no dirt, no grass, no gravel, stone or wood of any kind. What they walked on was black as obsidian, hard as granite, smooth as glass, and offered neither warmth nor cold. They tripped over nothing, no hills, divots, or bumps, yet Willow clung tightly to Spike's sleeve, then eventually his hand.
Both walked in silence for what seemed like hours, Willow's fear tightening in her stomach, and Spike's frustration flaring.
"Bloody hell, this has got to be the most boring place on earth!" He snarled.
"Spike, umm, I really don't think we're on earth anymore." She offered tentatively.
"Just sayin'. Didn't mean it literally." Spike came to a stop and peered around them, but his eyes didn't pick up anything different from the twenty-three other times he'd tried to pick out something new in the distance.
Willow let out a soft sigh and lightly tugged on his hand. "Anything? At all?"
"No." His answer, as per usual, was short and succinct.
"Can we rest a while, then? How long have we been walking? It seems like forever, and my feet hurt." Willow tried to tone down the slight whine she caught in her own voice. "Just for a little bit, Spike, please?"
"Don't suppose it could hurt." He shrugged and let her draw him down to the ground with her. They lay side by side, but Willow still clutched his hand. "Uh, Red, again, still gonna be here when you wake up."
"I know, but I just..." She hated feeling so needy and clingy. She was a bad-ass wicca...on earth, but not here.
Spike sighed and pulled his hand free of her damp death-grip. He placed an arm around Willow's shoulders and pulled her to his side. "Better?"
She nodded against his shoulder and let the comforting smell of old leather and Spike lull her to sleep almost immediately.
Spike was just beginning to drift off as well, but then he heard something. It was faint, and distant, not loud enough for the human ear to hear. With his preternaturally enhanced senses, though, he cocked his head and listened to what sounded like a soft moaning wind. He couldn't see it, but it sounded like a storm in the distance. Spike only hoped it wasn't heading in their direction.
******************************************
Spike and Willow lost all sense of time. Minutes ran into hours, and hours into days. They continued walking, exploring, but found nothing and no one. The dimensional void they found themselves in appeared to be completely empty and uninhabited.
What he hadn't told Willow was that he could still hear the sounds of the storm. They were continuous now, never ending, and seemed to be moving closer and closer toward them. Spike tried to guide them in different directions, but it was as if the winds shifted to follow their progress.
At least he'd thought they were winds. When they laid down to sleep that night, or what they supposed to be night according to Willow's internal clock, the sounds grew louder. Spike was growing concerned. No longer was the noise a distant wind rushing over the empty canvas of land they wandered. He could finally hear something else within the soughing breeze. Moans, screams, evil screeches that he would expect to find in the depths of Hell. He didn't tell Willow. Chit was worried enough as it was. It just made him more determined to find a way out before whatever seemed to be tracking them found their location.
************************************
His covert strategy was for naught, though. The following "morning" when Willow awoke, she heard something in the stillness of the void. She shook the still sleeping vampire next to her.
"Spike! Spike, wake up!" She hissed near his ear.
"Wha?" He blinked sleepily and pulled her warmth close against his side again. Spike was getting used to having Willow sleep next to him and enjoyed drawing on her body heat.
"Spike! I'm serious! Get up. I hear something." She pulled away and sat up, turning her head this way and that, trying to find which direction the noise was coming from.
He rose to kneel next to Willow and placed a hand on her shoulder. Sure enough the sounds he'd been trying to escape for the last week or so were even louder to him. "What do you hear, luv?"
"It's like...like a wind. Can you hear it?" She turned excited eyes in the direction of his voice.
"Yeah. Yeah, I hear it." Spike's voice was resigned. There was no way to hide it from her now. "We need to get away from it."
"What? Why?" She spun to confront him. "We've been looking for a sign of anything in this darned place, and the first time we notice something you want to go the other way? Why?"
"S'not what is sounds like, pet. I've heard it for a while now, but it's getting closer. You can't hear it yet, but trust me when I say that nothin' good is gonna come from whatever is out there. It's been followin' us."
"You knew, and didn't tell me?" Willow didn't know whether to be angry or scared. They'd been getting along pretty well, but Spike shouldn't have kept this from her. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Red, somethin' evil is chasin' us down. You were actin' skittish as it was. Didn't want to scare you, but we have to try and find a way out of here. Whatever is in that wind isn't all rainbows and kittens. It's somethin' evil and it's trackin' us like a hunter after its prey."
Jaw clenched, Willow mulled over his words and gave him a curt nod. "Then I guess we'd better head out again, huh?"
Spike rose and reached for her, pulling the slight redhead to her feet. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go."
And the two trod steadily through the darkness in the opposite direction of whatever was chasing them.
***************************************
The duo walked for days upon days trying to avoid their hunter, but no matter how many directional changes they made the sounds grew closer and louder. Spike and Willow spoke randomly about subjects the two never would have conversed about in Sunnydale. She told him the painful story of Tara's death and about her rampage. Spike offered the trials and tribulations he had to undergo in order to get his soul back. They debated the pros and cons of the onion blossom versus good old fashioned cheese fries. Willow and Spike spoke about anything and everything they could to drown out the screams and cries chasing them through the dark.
They just finished a discussion about poetry. Spike surprised Willow with some of his insight into various poets, and was amazed when he was able to quote entire verses from memory. She never pictured him to be a poetic-kinda guy. As she pondered this fact, the wind screamed once again, closer than ever before, and it made the hairs at the back of her neck stand on end.
"I don't even have to pee!"
Spike looked at her oddly. "How's that, luv?"
Willow knew she was blushing, but needed a distraction from the ever closer threat. "We're not hungry. Even when we sleep I'm not all that tired. It's just habit, you know? And I don't have to pee...or anything else. I don't think that's normal, even for a different dimension."
"Got a theory, do ya?" Spike squeezed her hand reassuringly, and neither noticed when their pace picked up.
After a pause, Willow pushed ahead. "Spike, do you think we could be dead?"
"Seriously doubt you and I would wind up in the same place if we died, pet." He brushed away her idea.
"Why not? You killed, what, thousands? I killed Warren and tried to destroy the entire world. I think it's very likely we would wind up in the same place." Willow argued as she half walked, half ran to keep up with him.
"Willow, you would never wind up in some sort of hell. I have a demon inside me. A demon, luv, not some cute little bunny. As locked up as it is right now, that doesn't change what it is. My demon controlled me for over a century, used my body to do things that would make Hitler cringe in disgust. You had a bout of temporary insanity brought on by the senseless murder of the person you loved most in the bloody universe, but you stopped. No God or Goddess would condemn you for that, Red, not with all of the good you've done."
Willow stopped and tugged on his hand, leading him to do the same. "Do you really mean that or are you just trying to make me feel better about the fact that we may be stuck in limbo between some form of Heaven and Hell?"
Spike walked back to stand right in front of her. In the dark, he reached out a hand and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I mean it, pet. You're the last person I know of that deserves a stint in the sulfur scented fires of Hell."
She felt herself growing mushy and grinning like an idiot. "Thanks, Spike."
He surprised her with a quick and chaste kiss to her forehead in the dark. "Anytime. Now, let's get movin', shall we?"
And once again the duo was on the move.
*****************************************
"Do you think the others survived?"
Willow had to raise her voice slightly when speaking to Spike now in order to be heard over the howling wind pursuing them. In the days that passed, it relentlessly hunted them, unerringly zeroing in on their position no matter how far and how fast they moved.
He shrugged and gave her hand a tug to encourage her not to slow down. "Buffy was okay, last I saw. She ran out before the world started cavin' in. So did Faith, Rona and your bird. Some others, too, but after a while of lookin' at a bunch of gigglin' girls they all look alike."
"I hope Xander, Giles, Dawn and Anya made it out okay too. Oh, and Robin and Andrew."
Spike let out a harsh laugh. "You want Andrew to have survived? Now I know you don't belong in Hell. I always thought the moron was annoyin', but he's got nothin' on that one. If I had to listen to one more Star Wars or Star Trek reference I was goin' to rip out his throat personally."
"Spike! I thought you were reformed, with a soul and all." She sounded distracted, and when he looked over his shoulder, Spike saw Willow looking behind them, worry clearly on her face.
"A wedgie, then. Maybe chain the boy up and make him watch CNN for a coupla days. Make him watch me burn his comic collection."
"Now you're just being mean." Willow scolded, distracted by Spike once again.
"Yeah. I'm a bad, bad man."
***************************************
Willow was exhausted, and knew their flight was nearing an end. The screaming, moaning, shrieking wind seemed to be right over them. She and Spike had stopped sleeping, stopped taking any kind of break. The redhead lost track of the number of hours, days, maybe weeks they'd been fleeing the inevitable confrontation. A small sob escaped Willow's throat, and her hand desperately clutched Spike's like a lifeline.
"I can't!" She stumbled to a stop, the wind now whipping her hair around her head, stinging her eyes as it struck with force. "Spike, I can't do it anymore. I'm so sorry."
He was exhausted as well. Turning back to Willow, he felt his undead heart clench at the look of total defeat staring back from her eyes. They gave it their best shot, but the time for confrontation was finally at hand. Spike wondered if they should have stayed put and conserved their energies for whatever fight was coming.
Walking forward, he pulled Willow into a comforting hug, resting his chin on the silky texture of her hair, clean and fresh still after all their time in this dimension of darkness.
"S'alright, pet. We'll face it together, whatever the hell it is." Spike's eyes closed when he felt Willow tremble in his arms.
"I'm scared." She practically had to shout over the noise descending upon them.
"I know. Me too." Spike buried his face in her neck and inhaled her scent, wondering if it would be the last time.
"Spike, promise me you won't let me go." She raised her hands to cup his face, pulling him back from her neck. She peered into the darkness wishing she could see his face just once more.
"I promise, Willow. I'll never let you go." Spike vowed before lowering his lips to hers. The kiss was intense, needy and violent. Their mouths crashed together, both of them desperate to make the most of their last minutes.
They both felt it at the same time, a tug deep within their stomachs, like someone tied a string tied around their innards and yanked. Willow pulled back from the kiss, wrapping her arms around his waist beneath the flapping duster, and clung tightly to the only thing in the dimension that mattered to her.
"Spike!" Her cry was terrified as she buried her face against his collarbone.
"Willow, hold on, luv. Not gonna let you go!"
Then the pain was back, the fire burning them from the inside out and Spike and Willow both screamed, grasping at each other's bodies. From the swirling, shrieking wind above them a blast of golden sunlight streamed down, focusing only on the two writhing bodies that began to slowly fade into nothingness, from their feet upwards.
As the pain ripped through Willow and Spike they screamed into each other's mouths in last parody of a kiss, and then they were gone. The void became quiet as the screams stopped, the wind stilled and the unintentional visitors were sent to where they belonged.
*************************************
'It hurt! Goddess, please make it stop hurting!' Willow's thoughts were a jumble of prayers and pain. She could still feel Spike gripping her tightly. Vaguely she wondered if he'd broken a few ribs, but he was keeping his promise. Spike was still there, still holding her, not letting go.
He could feel the pain lance through him and cursed every known deity for putting him and Willow through the vicious torture they experienced. Spike had been trapped in a sandstorm once, and the sensations were very similar. Each tiny bit of sand had lashed skin from his body. Now, it felt like every millimeter of skin was being torn from his being. Spike tightened his arms around Willow even further. Her sobs echoed in his ears above all else.
And suddenly...it stopped.
The unexpected light surrounding them caused shards of pain to pierce their skulls, but it was a picnic after what Spike and Willow just experienced. They blinked desperately, their sight cloudy and spotted as their eyes watered. Willow rubbed her eyes against his chest, wiping away the tears and sniffling slightly. Her arms still clutched desperately at his waist.
Spike was the first to recover fully. Raising his head, he peered around what appeared to be an office. The poof! The damned, bloody poof! He should have known. About to let loose with a string of curses and insults, Spike heard Willow's soft gasp.
Glancing down at the girl in his arms, he realized something. They made it. They'd survived. Trusting green eyes stared up at him and Spike couldn't resist a soft grin.
"Told ya I wouldn't let you go."
"So you did." Willow nodded and offered a watery smile.
From behind her, Willow heard the clearing of a throat, then a vaguely familiar male voice.
"Spike? Willow? What the hell?!"
Standing on tiptoes, she let her hands slide up to cup the back of his head, pulling him into a gentle kiss this time. Angel was ignored as the kiss lingered. They were safe, and had pulled through it together. Somehow they had survived the dark.
End.